Another Day, Another Stalker
by haleigh.l
Summary: Chapters 19 through 22 all uplaoded! Now complete. Post TS, Steph's new drama. A Babe story. Rating for language.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first fan fic, and I'm really not sure if I can do this at all, but I love reading them so much that I thought I'd give it a try. Please do review, and feel free to be (constructively) critical._

_Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. I might claim the plot on a good day. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

--------------------------------------------------------------

It had started out as one of those really great days. You know those days when you wake up, on-time, and everything is right with the world. That's how it had started at least. If I had known then how exactly it was going to shape up, I would have been far less cheery when my alarm went off. But, not yet comprehending the horror that would later befall me, I actually treated my alarm clock nicely. I jumped in the shower and was soon ready to face my day and my latest skip.

Walking into the kitchen, I saw why I had woken so cheery. A McDonalds bag was sitting on my dining room table, with a large Coke next to it, still dripping with condensation. Warm fries and a coke – the perfect breakfast. I had been over at Ranger's apartment the evening before, and after too mcuh wine, one the Merry Men had driven me home. Joe and I were trying to give it a go, so I figured that staying over, even on the couch or the fourth floor, wasn't really in my best interest. I looked out the window, confirming that my car was now parked directly in front of the building, proving that Ranger had in fact brought it by for me (seeing as how if I had driven it, it would have been tucked into it's spot next the dumpster), and silently thanked him for wonderful food he dropped off with it (even if he did consistently mutter about it killing me).

And then, when I swung through the office, a box of Tasty Pastry donuts were waiting for me. Lula had brought them in that morning. Even the realization that I needed to go stake out the house of my latest skip, as I had gotten nowhere yesterday trying to track him down, didn't damper my enthusiasm about what a wonderful day it was going to be – McDonald's fries, Tasty Pastry Boston crème donuts, and my car next to the door. What more can a girl ask for? Apparently a lot.

"Hey Lula, wanna go with me catch this guy?" I asked.

"Is that that Jimmy Clark dude that tried to pop his own mama? Hell yeah, I'll come with you! You need some muscle to get this guy, and I got just a big enough gun to take him." Climbing off the couch, she pulled her gun out of her purse, which was, I had to admit, quite large and probably big enough to take Jimmy. But still, I couldn't condone shooting the guy just because a fight with his mom went bad. Hell, fights with my mom went that bad all the time. Granted I didn't end the fight with a baseball bat, but this was his first offense….

"No!" I finally decided. "There will be no shooting! Besides, I can't even find this guy. I'm gonna go stake out his house for a while – I didn't get anywhere talking to his friends yesterday."

"Oh hell girl, I'm not gonna go sit outside in this heat, waiting for some skinny white dude to come home. Let me know when you need some fire power, and I'm all yours" she said, levering herself back onto the couch, now with another donut.

Connie grinned at me over the files, knowing that neither of us were good at a stake out, but together we'd probably never even get there. Oh well. I gave the girls a finger wave and, taking a deep breath, forced myself out into the scorching August heat to go stare at Jimmy Clark's house for a few hours. If I got lucky, maybe I'd have another round of breakfast delivered. After all, I'd found myself two rounds of free, delicious breakfast already today; and with the way my luck was going this wonderful morning, I was almost expecting a third.

Two hours later, my ass was just starting to get numb, and I had actually managed to surprise myself at how long I had managed to sit there. I usually only lasted about 10 minutes on a stake out. My newfound expertise at bounty-hunting must go with the good mood I had woken up in. About that time, the passenger door opened; for a split second, I was sure it was my third breakfast. But it was just Ranger, not that he's not yummy in his own way. But wait, I thought despairingly, I had agreed not to sample any more of Ranger's yumminess, even though he was looking especially edible today in his painted on black t-shirt and black cargos – seriously, why am I surprised. Even though he's got another couple weeks restricted to office work, he still looks like he's ready to take down Trenton's bad guys at a moment's notice. Yep, even hurt, he's Batman. No doubt about it.

Of course, by the time my mind had filtered through all this, Ranger had gingerly lowered himself into the passenger seat, and was now looking at me with his patented semi-amused smirk, patiently waiting until I snapped back to reality.

"Yo," I finally managed, realizing he was definitely all-out smirking at me now. Damn hormones.

"On a stake out?" he asked, glancing through the file that had been in his seat. His blank face remained, but I noticed a slight added tension around his eyes before it was gone again, the only indication of his displeasure that Vinnie had given me the would-be mom whacker.

"Yep," I replied, quite proud of myself. "I've been here for two hours, and I'm not even bored yet."

"Babe." Huh, I guess he wasn't nearly as proud of me as I was about my two hour feat.

"Hey, thanks for breakfast this morning, even if you are sure it will be my demise."

"What?" he asked.

"The McDonald's – you left my hangover cure for me when you dropped of my car, right?" I asked, only belatedly realizing that perhaps I should have thought harder about my breakfast's origins.

"Nope. I had an early meeting. Just dropped of the car."

Huh. Must have been Morelli then. We had been getting along even better than usual over the past month since I had told him I loved him. And at least he appreciates my passion for McDonald's. Maybe it was a goodwill gesture to prove that he was okay with me spending the evening before at Ranger's.

"Might want to double check," Ranger said, handing me my phone. "And there's a reason I don't share your McDonald's passion." Damn ESP.

I quickly dialed Morelli's cell to confirm the McDonald's delivery.

"Hey Cupckae." He answered on the first ring.

"Hey. Did you bring me breakfast this morning?"

"Uh, no. Bob ate some furniture this morning, so I had my hands full cleaning up after him. Don't tell me some psycho let you a gift that you ate."

"Uhh," I managed. That hadn't even occurred to me till he said it. "No! I'm sure not. At least I'm pretty sure not." Though you never know with my life. No, I was determined to retain my cheery mood. "No psychos for me. I only have one file at the moment. I'm on a stake-out" I announced proudly.

"Who's your skip?"

"Jimmy Clark" I replied, only to hear Morelli swear under his breath. "Joe," I started again, "We had an agreement. You don't criticize my job, and I don't kiss Ranger. I'm holding up my end here." Turns out those secret kisses in the ally weren't so secret after all. And Joe wasn't thrilled with them continuing, which was entirely fair, really. And I had agreed to the compromise. After all, I did love Joe, and I wanted to give this a real shot. Not so easily done with Ranger constantly playing havoc on my hormones, or 'applying pressure' as he so eloquently put it.

"And I even agreed to keep my hands to myself," Ranger said, just loudly enough for Joe to hear.

Joe actually laughed. Maybe this compromise thing wasn't the worst idea we've had. "Well, well. Manoso and I agreeing. We're just turning into one big happy family. Well, I won't criticize your job, Cupcake. But please do try to be careful with this one. I guess I can be glad that Ranger's there to help you. Bye," he said, hanging up.

See what a good day this was so far, Joe didn't even yell once, even when he realized I was chasing a skip charged with attempted murder. And he actually laughed and seemed fine with the fact that Ranger was next to me. Yep, it was a good day.

"So that agreement with Morelli is working?" Ranger asked. I had seen him tense up, just the slightest, when Joe reacted to the fact that I was after Jimmy. I actually almost did the ESP thing, realizing that he was recalling our conversation from the night before, and reiterating his desire to see me happy.

I had gone over to his apartment to tell him about my decision to really try with Joe. Well, I had gone over there because Tank had called, but after a glass or three of wine, I had ended up spilling my and Joe's compromise. I explained that I had told him I loved him for the first time (him being Joe, since my happy state of denial stopped me from ever telling Ranger of my revelation) on our way to the hospital after Scrog. Ranger actually seemed glad for me. He even seemed okay with me not letting him poach anymore, when I explained it in my jelly-donut/hormone terms. "Babe," he had said, "I know I hurt you when I told you to go back to Morelli, but I did it for a reason. You know I love you, but Morelli's a good guy, he can offer you a whole life that I can't. And all I really want is for you to be happy, and get everything you deserve." I had teared up at the obvious admission of love, even if this one came with yet another 'go back to Morelli' speech. I wasn't sure if this was better or worse than the 'in my own way' speech. Worse, defiantly worse. At least my proficiency in denial could allow me to believe that 'in my own way' really meant forever and ever. Not much to misunderstand with this speech.

"What could you offer me?" I had asked. Probably I wouldn't have without the wine. But hey, I was curious, sue me. "You'd have to love me instead of Morelli for me to offer you anything," he had replied. He had been oddly frank last night, looking back. It was a little creepy, really, all of that discussion of love with Ranger. But there wasn't nearly enough wine in denial-land for me to touch that last statement. "What if I do love you?" I had blurted out. Huh. Guess there was enough wine. This wasn't going to end well. "Babe." was all he said. He took the wine glass from my hand, the corners of his mouth tilting up as he called Lester to say that he was pretty sure it was time for me to head home, and he was really sure I shouldn't drive myself, seeing as how I was blurting out all sorts of stuff over here.

"Yeah," I said, my mind finally pulling back to the present, the stake-out, the question Ranger had just asked about Morelli. "Yeah, it's working so far. I'm happy."

"Good. So, how long are you going to watch our friend Jimmy here?" he asked, changing the subject to less emotionally-charged topic, thank god. It was bad enough having all the 'where is this relationship going' talks with Joe lately, I couldn't handle Ranger too.

"Till I get overly bored, or until my ass gets any number. Proally not much longer." I said, some of my pride from earlier starting to fade, since I hadn't actually seen anything on this stake-out.

"Did you check the note on the door?" he asked.

"What note?"

"Babe." So we're back to one word sentences. Well, better than declarations of love that really weren't declarations at all. He got out and walked to the front door, grabbing the note that had been taped there. He read it, blank face in tact, and headed back to the car. Although maybe I'm getting better at reading him, because I could swear he looked amused.

He climbed bank into the car, still favoring his shoulder, and silently handed me the note.

_Stephanie, _

_As much as I admire your persistence, I suggest you stop looking for me. I don't need to add the 'or else' here do I? _

_Jimmy_

_Oh, I hope you enjoyed your breakfast this morning. Coke and fries are the best for a hangover, aren't they? Hope it did the trick!_

My eyes got huge as I read the note, and turned to Ranger. Yep, he was definitely amused. He wasn't even bothering to hide it now. "I'm not sure if I should be glad that I finally picked up a stalker who brings the right kind of gifts, or if I should hurl since I actually ate it," I finally sputtered out. My stomach seemed to go with the hurling route, and I quickly rolled down the window. The note was threatening in general, but the change from threatening to high-school-cheerleader-nice was just plain creepy.

"When you're done deciding if you're going to hurl," Ranger said, (and yes, he was _still_ smirking), "I need you for a job tonight. You up for it?"

"A job!" I screeched, forgetting my hurling and only now realizing that I hadn't asked Ranger why he had shown up in my car. "The whole reason Tank called me last night was to get you to rest and stop working, since you're still not entirely healed yet!" I was a bit perturbed that my and Tank's master plan of forcing Ranger to rest hadn't worked. Not that Tank really thought he could force Ranger to do anything, but he thought my presence might be at least a little convincing. Huh. Guess we had both overestimated my charm and devastating good looks.

"Yeah, I'm going to have a 'talk' with Tank about when I'm strong enough to kick his ass again."

"Hey, don't blame Tank," I replied, giggling. "It was either calling me or Celia." Ranger glared, clearly less than thrilled at the idea of Celia showing up to take care of him. I had gotten to meet Celia at the hospital. I had a suspicion that Ranger was not happy with me meeting his older sister at all, and even less happy about all of our time to chat while he was unconscious. I had now gone from giggling to all out-laughing at the thought of mother-hen Celia showing up and flapping around her very un-flappable brother. Ranger's glare was becoming more menacing, perhaps due to the fact that his very intimidating glare no longer had any effect on me, seeing as I was now choking a bit, trying, unsuccessfully, to stop laughing.

"Okay," I finally sputtered, trying to change the subject back to the night at hand to put him out of his misery. "What's the job and what do you need from me?"

"Distraction, ten o'clock. Got a skip who's gonna be at a dive bar on Stark Street."

"Great," I muttered, knowing that any bar on Stark required me to look very, very low class if I'm going to lure him anywhere. "Is he dangerous?" I asked, knowing full well that Ranger knew I'd do it regardless.

"Apparently less dangerous than your skip," he replied, once again looking amused. He was silent for a minute while I attempted my own intimidating glare.

"I'm glad you're happy with Joe, babe, but I do question the man's intelligence sometimes," he said, suddenly going back to last night's heart-to-heart (well, as much of one as you're going to have with the master of one-word sentences).

"Why's that?" I asked, genuinely curious, since Ranger never says anything negative about Joe. And a bit shocked at the change of subject.

"He just seems to keep giving you reasons to walk away, like criticizing you about your job. He yells, you get huffy, and he lets you walk away."

Now I don't appreciate being called 'huffy,' but I have to admit that I did actually get a bit huffy when the phrase 'let you walk away' sunk in. "Let me? Let me?" I asked, my voice getting a big squeaky. Ranger smirked at the obvious sign of my huffiness. "What, and if you and I were together, you wouldn't 'let me' walk away?"

"Babe," he said, still smirking. Smug bastard. He climbed out of the car. Just before he closed the door, he leaned back in. "If it were you and me, babe, I wouldn't keep giving you reasons to walk away. I'll pick you up at 9:30, show some leg." He actually winked, before walking away, leaving me open-mouthed. Smug bastard, I thought again. Seriously, what did I just say about not being able to handle deep emotional conversations with Ranger.

Great, my good day was done. I had eaten a gift left from my latest psycho (and happily, I might add – I couldn't even claim I had eaten it under duress). I had wasted all afternoon on a stakeout. And now, I had to explain to my on-again boyfriend exactly why I would be dressing like a skank for an evening with my ex-lover. Oh, and I had to tell him about my psycho. He had agreed to not yell about my job, but me eating a psycho's breakfast could test anyone's patience. I was pretty sure he wouldn't remain nearly as calm as he had been an hour ago. Finally, I couldn't do it anymore. I gave into the urge to bang my head against the steering wheel, muttering 'why me?'. Good day, my ass.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the first chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

I pulled out from the spot where I had conducted my shockingly futile stake-out, and headed back to the office. If I had to do a distraction on Stark Street tonight, then I needed to go shopping, which meant I needed Lula. Not only was she a great shopping partner, but she would know exactly what I needed for this job, in light of the amount of time she spent there in her former profession.

I pulled up at the office a few minutes later and headed inside.

"Yo white girl, you're just in time for lunch" Lula said as I walked in.

"Actually, I was thinking of heading to the mall. Wanna come?"

"Shopping? Hell girl, you don't have to ask twice. We can stop at Cluck-in-a-Bucket on the way to fortify ourselves. I have a date with my man Tank later tonight, so I could use something new too, you know, something to really shock him."

Now this was a woman with her priorities straight – fried Chicken and Macy's, in that order. Although the goal of shocking Tank, considering Lula's usual fashion statements, might be a bit far-fetched. Her current declaration in fashion was lime green spandex shorts, with a tight lace trim (still in lime green, of course) cutting off her circulation at mid-thigh. The shorts were only accentuated by the pink sequined and laced top her cleavage was spilling out of and the matching pink pleather boots. You had to give it to the girl, she knew how to coordinate – the lace on her top and the lace on her shorts matched perfectly, with only the fluorescent color choice to differentiate. How she found boots in that same shade of highlighter pink I will never know.

We waved to Connie as we headed out. We took Lula's Firebird on account of there being more room for shopping bags than in my Mini. Well, I'm pretty sure that was my reason. Her reason had much more to do with her stereo system, I realized, as she cranked it up to ear-drum shattering level.

We reached the mall in no time, and headed into Macy's. After explaining the job to Lula, we started digging through rack of short skirts and skimpier tops. After all, Ranger did say to show some leg. I'd hate to disobey an order from my boss. And I'll keep telling myself that that was the only reason I was currently holding up for Lula's inspection a skin tight, frayed denim skirt that would show ass cheek if I bent the wrong direction. This would look adorable on a girl ten years younger, but what the hell, this is a distraction job after all. If you can't dress a generation too young on a distraction job, when can you?

An hour later, we had found the perfect top to go with the skirt, a tiny little sapphire blue top with black sequins that showed off all my best features. Uhm hmm, or rather, the features a wonder-bra would soon endow me with. Basically, it hid the love handles and was low-cut. My requirements were simple.

Now for the shoes.

"Stephanie, how good to see you! Are you looking for shoes for a job or a date with one of those studs you're always with?"

Uggh, I clearly shopped too much when the perpetually perky sales girl could not only identify me by name, but actually knew what I did and who I did it with. Not that this was a rare occurrence in my life, but hey, I would like to pretend I had some privacy left.

"A distraction job, actually" I replied, really making an effort to smile politely. Though with the amount of commission I gave this girl, I didn't even need to be polite.

"Yeah, I'm thinking black, four inches, and lots of sequins" Lula said, quickly looking at and dismissing most of the shoes on the close display racks. "Basically, we need slut shoes. Your average FMP just ain't going to cut this time."

That's Lula: to the point. But she was right. You're average black pump were not going to get this job doen. After an hour of trying on various options, we had the shoes. A quick trip through Victoria's Secret and we were ready to roll.

By this time it was almost 5:00, and I still had to explain to Morelli the distraction job and the breakfast, um, issue. Too bad, really. The day of shopping had nicely pushed that little fact the back of the mind, and I was perfectly content to leave it there. As we drove back towards Hamilton, I debated the merits of just simply omitting the incident all together when talking to Morelli.

What was I thinking, this was my life we're talking about! This thing was going to involve the police at some point (doesn't it always?), and Morelli would find out. Maybe me telling him now would defuse a bit of that Italian anger. Maybe he'll see the new maturity I'm displaying by telling him up front, and be so impressed that he doesn't even yell at all. Yep, that's definitely how the evening is going to play out.

With this new-found confidence, I had Lula drop me off at my car, and headed towards Morelli's house to give him the good news (the news being of my maturity, which is how I would frame the whole stalker issue). What could go wrong?

The first mistake I made was bringing all my shopping bags into the house with me. The second, looking back, was probably conveniently forgetting my new-found maturity and forgoing the stalker conversation for sex. Although at the time, both were very, um, rewarding decisions.

I headed into the house, bags in tow, only to be tackled to the ground by an exuberant Bob, who had apparently missed me (literally, this time, Bob really had missed me, if his tongue all over my face was any indication). Every bag went flying, of course (remember that first mistake I just mentioned – this is where that comes in). Joe, who had followed Bob to the door to greet me, grabbed the shoe box first.

"Whoa, Cupcake, now these are some shoes. I can already think up some plans for these shoes," he said, reaching for the bag with the skirt and top.

"Ahh," I squeaked, jumping back up to my feet and lunging for the bag. Yes, I actually squeaked, but I really wanted to explain before he saw that skirt. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Morelli, I need to talk to you."

"You sure you just want to talk? Cause if these other bags are as much fun as the shoes, I think we could find all sorts of better things to do" Joe replied, leaning into me to greet me properly. One look into those chocolate eyes and I forgot all about my carefully rehearsed conversation.

"Um," I finally managed. "I have to do a distraction job tonight, so I got some new clothes. The guy's not dangerous, but he likes 'em slutty, so…" I trailed off, holding up the bags I had rescued.

"Oh yeah?" Morelli asked, his eyes turning even darker. Hmm, maybe he's starting to learn the merits of distraction jobs. After all, how often does he get to see me dressed like that. Though I'm sure his mind isn't focused right now on the fact that Ranger, his Merry Men, and a whole host of Stark Street patrons would also see me dressed like that. But hey, who am I to ruin his mood?

"Want me to try it on for you?" I whispered in his ear. Guess that's a yes, I though, as he took off for the stairs dragging me behind him.

An hour later, Joe having heartily approved of my clothing choice, we ordered some Pino's for delivery. Theoretically, if we used Morelli's kojack light, we could make it to my parents for dinner, but there was no way I was going looking like this. And besides, who's going to trade Pino's and a Met's game for listening to my Grandma embarrass my mother, although that usually was entertaining, if in a poke-my-eyes-out-with-my-fork kind of way.

About 8:00, I realized I still had to get ready. Since half my stuff was here anyway (and more since I was comfortable on the couch), I called Ranger and let him know to pick me up here. I figured since I didn't have to drive home, I could veg for at least another half hour before getting ready.

When I finally couldn't procrastinate any longer, I headed upstairs to slut myself up. Since my hair already had that just-fucked look (not like it ever didn't, living with Joe), I just rinsed off in the shower and started on my make-up. At 9:30 on the dot, I heard Ranger's pull up outside, and dashed down the stairs and out the door, hoping to hell that Joe would either be too caught up in the extra innings to notice my appearance, or just not say anything. Luckily, I made a quick exit, yelling "Bye, I'll be back in a couple hours, love you" over my shoulder as I hit the sidewalk.

Ranger smirked at me as I climbed in his car, but didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if it was the obvious after-glow still lingering or the amount of leg showing that caused the smirk, but I let it go (remember that maturity I mentioned? Yeah, it was finally kicking in).

"Skips name is Marcus Welch," Ranger said as he pulled into the lot of a dingy bar. "Lester's on the inside and has already spotted him sitting at the bar. He's alone. Shouldn't be too hard. He's not normally violent, but it's his third felony, so he's a little nervous about the sentencing he'll get. There's four of us out front and two in the back, besides Lester, so there shouldn't be any problems."

My eyes widened a bit as Ranger leaned over me to grab the wire out of the glove box. He gave me a wolf grin as he slid the microphone into my shirt. "Doesn't count as poaching if it's a safety measure, right?" he asked, answering my glare.

Mm hmm, I'm quite sure safety wasn't where his mind was right now. "Go get 'em," he said, tugging on a stray curl.

He never did say anything about my outfit, but if the catcalls and whistles I immediately heard from the guys in the parking lot were any indication, I had chosen well.

I headed in, made eye contact with Lester towards the back, whose eyes widened slightly at my appearance, and then immediately spotted my skip at the bar. I decided that in a place like this, I could just go with the most direct route. Not a lot of subtlety was expected.

I stumbled a little as I approached the chair next to Marcus, brushing my chest against his arm. Yeah, I meant the really direct route. At this rate, I might even be able to work up a 'let's go somewhere a little quieter, baby.'

Turns out I didn't even need that. Marcus grabbed my arm to steady me, looked me up and down, and leered. "Hey babe, wanna make some easy cash?" Damn, all I had to do was cock my head towards the door, and we were on our way.

As Tank grabbed Marcus from behind and cuffed him. As he did I whirled around and kicked him in the balls. He went down gasping for air, as Tank all-out laughed.

"I'm not a whore, you prick!" I yelled. I know I had on lace-top thigh-highs with this short skirt and black FMPs covered in sequins, but yeesh, 'wanna make some cash'? That's just, shit, I don't even know what that is. And he called me 'babe'! I was definitely going to have to sanitize myself when I got home.

"Babe," Ranger said giving me his full 200 watts.

"Well, call me a whore, you deserve to feel your balls in your throat."

"Fair enough. Come on, I'll take you home," he said.

"Hey Bomber, I think that was a record. You should wear that skirt more often," Lester yelled as he came out of the bar. Everyone laughed, harder after I flipped Lester an Italian hand gesture.

I handed the wire back to Ranger was we slid into his car, and he headed back towards Morelli's.

"Later, Babe. Thanks for your help," he said, as the car stopped.

I smiled at him softly, determined not to let my thoughts run away with me. I just looked at him for a second before turning and heading inside


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

--------------------------------------------------

Morelli's eyes got big as I walked in the front door. Guess he didn't notice the thigh-highs as I ran out of here earlier. Normally they weren't enough by themselves, but seeing as how the skirt was several inches higher than the lace tops, it looked slutty as hell.

"Damn, Cupcake, that was fast."

"Yeah, I think I broke my record. I didn't even sit down before I had him following me outside. Of course I might have broke his balls too, but he deserved that."

"Uh uh, I don't want to hear anything about that. No way am I going to be stuck explaining why a skip showed up to the station roughed up."

"Oh come on," I whined. "He deserved it!"

Morelli just grinned. "Well, I didn't get the full effect of this outfit earlier, and I'm pretty sure, since I've been so calm about you running around on Stark Street…" His eyes hardened a bit at that. Guess I forgot to mention that part earlier, and he heard. Opps. "I should get the full effect of this outfit now," he finished.

Well, when you put it like that…. "As long as I can take a scalding shower first, I'm all yours," I replied as I was drug up the stairs for a second time today. Well, at the very least all these orgasms were making up for a sucky first half of the day.

-------------------------------------------------

I stumbled into the bonds office the next morning, only to find out that there were still no other files than Jimmy Clark. Damn. And I still hadn't told Morelli about yesterday's breakfast issue. I had meant to, honest. I just have this hormonal thing. You know, his eyes get all chocolaty, I forget how to talk, really, it could happen to anyone.

Well, dragging my mind back to the present, I guess I was stuck searching for sweet, innocent little Jimmy. I headed home to feed Rex and try to figure out other leads for this guy. I parked by the dumpster, trudged up the stairs (that's as good as a morning run, right?), and unlocked my door. The second I got inside, I froze.

There was an amazing bouquet of flowers on my dining room table. An absolutely stunning arrangement – far better than any bouquet I had ever received. There were Asiatic lilies and calla lilies and roses, all shades of flame orange and blood red. A normal girl, say a tampon factory employee, would pass out if they came home to these flowers. These flowers literally screamed seduction. Me? I didn't even blink. Well, I did have one split second of fantasy, thinking they were from Ranger. I know I should frown at that thought, since I did set up the whole no-poaching rule 2 days ago, but hey, a girl can dream. And besides, they're not Joe's style.

But alas, these were from neither of the men in my life. I didn't even bother to glance at the card before hauling my phone out of my bag and dialing Ranger.

"Yo"

"Hey. You didn't happen to send me a really stunning bouquet of flowers this morning, did you?" Like I said, I could dream.

"Babe. I'm not really the type to send flowers to a girl, knowing she spent the night with another man."

Huh. Good point. Well, so much for dreaming.

"Well, then I have a problem. First McDonald's, then flowers. Hell, I don't even know why I'm complaining about this. I may even keep these flowers. Did I mention they're stunning?"

"Be there in 10."

He disconnected. Guess he realized I was a bit nervous, but then, the babbling did make that a little obvious. Sometimes even Batman didn't even need ESP.

I checked the apartment to make sure the delivery man wasn't waiting behind my shower curtain or under my bed, and decided it was safe. I grabbed a pop-tart for myself and fed a corner to Rex while waiting for Ranger.

I had my back to the door and didn't even hear him come in. When I turned around, he was standing directly behind me. I must of jumped a foot.

"Babe," he said, his almost smile in place. "Got to be more aware…"

"Aware of my surroundings…yeah, yeah, yeah. Why don't you make more noise, then we wouldn't have this conversation" I retorted, pushing on his chest.

He didn't budge.

"They really are nice flowers. I'll have to remember how much you like them," he said with a wolf grin.

"Uh huh," I replied dryly. "Did you read the card? I didn't even bother to look."

"What, not even curious? You all right?"

"Ha ha. I didn't bother to look since I knew who they were from. What'd the card say?"

"Said you looked great in that skirt," he replied casually.

"What skirt?" I asked. Ranger just grinned. "Oh shit, last night's skirt? He was there?"

"Babe. Pretty sure, since he's stalking you, that didn't just happen to be there. Since no one tailed us, he either saw you at the mall, or was watching Morelli's house," he explained, handing me the card.

I read it, my desire to keep the flowers quickly fading.

_Stephanie,_

_I see you always get your man. Very quick work last night, impressive. Maybe next time won't be so easy. Then again, not all guys are content to just look at your legs. I'd really like to do more than just look myself._

_Jimmy_

_Loved the skirt, by the way._

Yep, definitely throwing out the flowers. It was a shame though, I thought, glancing back at them. I wouldn't even know where to get flowers like that.

"Can't get those flowers around here. Had to come from New York." Damn ESP

"Well, I guess that'd be as good a place to start as any, seeing as I didn't have any other leads," I said shakily.

"Wanna call the cops?"

"No!" I said, probably too quickly. Batman, of course, caught on immediately.

"You didn't tell Morelli about the breakfast yesterday, did you?" he asked, smirking again. He's been smirking a lot lately. I realize I generally amuse him, but this was getting to be a bit much. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out a way of wiping that smirk off his face without waking up tomorrow in Somalia.

"Playing with fire, babe."

"Uggh!" I gave up.

"So," he said, blank face sliding into place. "What do you wanna do next?"

What? He's asking me? "Why aren't you cuffing me and dragging me off to a safe-house?" I asked suspiciously.

"Doesn't seem that serious yet. Threats aren't terribly overt, gifts are nice. Considering your usual stalker, I say we have a few weeks before I drag you to a safe house."

Sad, isn't it, that I have so many stalkers that we can have this conversation?

I was just about to thank him for his faith in me (or was it faith in Jimmy's patience before beating me with his baseball bat) when he continued. "How about I just stick a man on you for a while."

My eyes narrowed. I knew he gave up too quickly on the safe-house issue. No way was I driving around town with a huge black truck following my every move. Hello, anyone ever heard of privacy?

Guess not, I thought dejectedly, as Ranger's gaze became more intimidating.

"How about this. You put a GPS on my car, and I use your computers to find out more about this guy before I do anything else." There, that sounded like a fair compromise. See, maybe this maturity thing is working out.

"Fair enough, but you should probably tell Morelli, seeing as how it was his house being watched" Ranger replied, heading towards the door. I followed behind. As he opened the door, he leaned close, almost touching the shell of my ear with his lips, and instantly causing me to shiver involuntarily. "But babe, there's already a GPS on your car" he whispered.

By the time I recovered enough to realize what he meant, he was gone. "Hey that's not fair" I yelled at the now shut door, kicking it for good measure. I could hear Ranger laughing down the hall.

I ought to shoot the GPS, just to level the playing field here. So much for maturity.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

-------------------------------------------------------------

Most people leave behind them an obvious paper trail. Do a cursory search, and you'll find everything from their grandmother's birthday to their latest teeth cleaning. This little fact, however, seemed only to hold true to ordinary people. You know, those people who didn't go around beating little old ladies with baseball bats. Stand-up citizens like Jimmy Clark, it seemed, left trails a bit more veiled. As in sealed military records. Oh I had other stuff, I even had his granny's birthday and the date he lost his wisdom teeth….but those sealed records had my spidey-sense going haywire. Then again, that's enough to pique anyone's curiosity. So my impending sense of doom may be a little preemptive.

After finding all the information I could (mostly) legally find, I decided to ask Ranger to help me find the rest. Basically I just figured he'd have a much better shot at finding out what was in those records.

"Yo" I said, sliding onto the couch in his office, files on Jimmy in hand. A raised eyebrow was my only response. I stifled a sigh and continued. 

"I found some basic info on our friend Jimmy. Turns out got out of the army about two months ago. All I could find, though, was that it was an 'other than honorable discharge.' The rest of the records are sealed."

"That's not uncommon. An OTH discharge just means that his conduct wasn't in line with the military's code. Discharges like that are automatically sealed."

"Or maybe it was something really, really bad, and the military sealed it to cover it up," I countered, getting excited at the concept of revealing a big conspiracy.

"Sorry babe, if it had been serious enough for him to be charged with anything, there would have been a court-martial, which would have been public record. And it wouldn't of been an OTH discharge, it would have been dishonorable, which is much worse"

Wow, big speech, Batman, I thought. Guess the way to get him talking is to have him explain the military justice system. Or not. In spite of my pride over getting to talk in entire paragraphs, I did feel vaguely defeated that the sealed records didn't lead to anything more exciting.

"You're spidey-sense tingling again?" he asked seriously. Wow, he wasn't even smirking.

"Yeah, it really is. You could be right that it's just him acting like a stupid kid, but I really have a feeling there's something relevant there." 

"I'll make some calls. Might take a day or so."

"Thanks" I replied grinning, still a little surprised that he was willing to go to the hassle when he was pretty sure there was nothing there.

"You have good instincts babe, they're worth listening too."

"Oh. Thanks." My conversation skills after a compliment from Ranger. I should work on that.

Mastering conversation with the wizard could wait, I thought, as I waved bye to Ranger and headed back down to my car. Connie had called while I was searching to let me know that some reprobates had finally skipped court this morning. Bad for them, good for my bank account. And besides, I had to have something to do in order to put off telling Morelli about the whole thing.

-------------------------------------------------

Four hours later, I was standing outside the police station, with Morelli standing a careful four feet away. Apparently I smelled. Since my own sense of smell had deserted me about the time I fell into the garbage, I couldn't be sure. What I did know was that I didn't have a ride home. Lula had, of course, vacated the premises. For once though, the thought of me getting back in her car may have been more a contributing factor than her dislike for cops.

"Seriously Cupcake, what happened to you?" Morelli asked, not even bothering to come any closer.

"What do you think happened? I got shoved into a garbage bag." Several garbage bags, really, but there was no need to go there. Personally, I thought the fact that there was no actual garbage bits stuck to me was a significant improvement from my usual look. "Can you give me a ride back to my apartment?"

"No way, Cupcake. You're not getting near my truck like that."

Apparently my Burg-death-glare made him reconsider.

"Come on," he said resignedly. "You can use the shower in lock-up and I'll find you a jump suit to wear home."

"Are you kidding me?" I screeched. "There's no way in hell I'm walking through Trenton PD in a jumpsuit after showering in front of god-knows how many people."

About that time I finished screeching, Ranger's Cayenne pulled into the lot. He climbed out of the car, and walked toward us, eyeing Morelli.

"Looking a little crazy, babe," he said. I'm sure he was close enough to smell me, though he didn't mention it. He was certainly willing to get closer than Morelli was.

"Lula left, I need a ride back to my apartment," I said.

Ranger glanced again at Morelli, back at me, and shrugged. "Hop in," he replied, tilting his head back towards the SUV.

"Wait, Cupcake, I'll take you," Joe said, as I followed Ranger. I contemplated the merits of a several choice gestures, but managed to control myself, considering that half the force was waiting (scratch that, betting) to see what we'd do.

"That's okay, Joe. I'll call you later" I said, my voice almost normal. Although if the daggers Morelli was shooting our way were any indication, he was almost as pissed as I was.

I hesitated as I started to climb in through the door Ranger was holding open.

"It's fine, babe, the smell will come right back out." 

I shot him a thankful glance and got in. Neither of us said anything until we were pulling into my parking lot.

"Why didn't you let Morelli drive you?" he asked conversationally. Some I doubted he was just making idle conversation.

"Cause the jerk threatened to make me shower in lock-up before he'd let me in his car. Do you know how many people can see into the shower in there? There's cameras everywhere," I replied, still pissed at Joe. Sure I smelled, but he was supposed to love me anyway. If we ever got married, I was going to have to specifically write that into the vows. For better, for worse, for smellier, for covered in garbage….God, my mother would faint on the spot.

Ranger was full out grinning at me. Guess I had said that last part out loud. He yanked me towards him and kissed me, smell and all. My eyes were huge when he let go and leaned back.

"Nobody would have minded seeing you in the shower, just so you know," he said, shifting back in his seat.

"Yeah, well…" I said, climbing out of the car. "And that's poaching," I said accusingly, before shutting the door. Ranger just shrugged.

"I'd keep my hands to myself, but you're just too tempting when you smell like that."

I glared as I shut the cab door. Yeesh, I couldn't even think of a good reply. I rode up the elevator, and did a cursory check of my apartment before peeling off my clothes and getting into the shower. Never could be too careful with a psycho on the loose, though nothing had happened since the flowers yesterday. Crap, I thought, I still hadn't told Morelli about the whole thing. Thought that man was really on my shit-list right now. How dare he be mad at me for leaving with Ranger when he wouldn't let me in his car! He only offered because Ranger offered. I have no doubt that he really would have made me shower and wear a jump suit.

After four washes, I was pretty sure the smell was gone from my hair and skin. Well, to tell the truth, I was pretty sure after the third wash, but one more couldn't hurt, right? Especially since I still had that bottle of Bulgari from when Ranger had stayed last month. I decided a nap was in order before I thought too much about Joe's actions this afternoon. Or that kiss from Ranger. That kiss. Shit, Joe wouldn't even stand downwind of me, and Ranger not only let me in his expensive car, but kissed me! Uggh, I really needed that nap.

----------------------------------------------

I woke up and stared blearily at the clock. 5:45. I could rush and get a decent dinner at my parents house. Or not. Just the thought of my mother's reaction to today's incident in the PD parking lot had my left eye twitching. I drug myself to the couch, and decided that Pino's delivery was a much better option.

Not surprisingly, Joe showed up at the same time as the Pino's delivery guy. I don't know how he managed that, but I guess he mad at me anymore. Or else his love for pizza overrode his anger. I was pretty sure it was the latter.

"Hey cupcake," he said, setting the pizza on the coffee table and heading to the kitchen for beer. As soon as he rounded the corner, I dashed for the bathroom. Yep, as I feared, my hair was a riot. I hadn't bothered to tame it after my nap, so I tried now. I might be mad, but I'm still vain. And really, why torture the guy with this hair – that's taking the idea of punishing him a bit too far. I mean, this hair was really, really scary. Even Ranger wouldn't kiss me looking like this.

"Mmm, you smell better," Joe said with a grin, as I plopped down next to him on the couch.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad!" I teased, grabbing a slice of pizza.

Joe just looked at me sideways, before grabbing his own slice and flipping the TV onto another Mets game. Baseball certainly wasn't my first choice of games to watch, but it was the off-season for the Rangers and Knicks, so what else could I do? I settled in to watch, enjoying the flavors of the marinara, mozzarella, and pepperoni that was Pino's amazing pizza.

"So, would you have kissed me smelling like I did earlier?" I blurted out. I wasn't even sure where that came from, just curious really. Really, there was no comparisons going on in my head, I swear.

"Cupcake, I wouldn't even stand next to you. No man in their right mind would of kissed you smelling like that."

Huh. Well, Joe never did think Ranger was all that mentally stable anyway.

"I love you, cupcake," Joe continued, "but there's a limit. I draw the line at garbage."

Ouch! "There shouldn't be limits on love, Joe. I don't limit how much I love you, I just do."

"Sure you do. You don't love me enough to move in with me. You don't love me enough to make the sacrifices it would take to marry me."

"Yeah, and you don't love me enough to just plain accept me, job, friends, and all."

"See, limits. Turns out one of mine is smelling like garbage."

He didn't seem very upset about this. In fact, he was still munching on the last slice of pizza and staring at the game. I wasn't sure why I was so upset. Maybe he was right, that even if you love someone, there are lines you won't cross, things you just won't do. I wanted to believe in unconditional love, but I'd certainly never experienced it. Dickie loved me, but not enough to stop screwing other women. Joe loved me, enough to put up with my antics, as my mother would say, but not enough to ever really accept me. Ranger said he loved me, and was always willing to help me when I needed him, but he made it clear that he didn't love me enough to try a relationship, to make the sacrifices it would require.

Wow, this is a depressing line of thought. None of the men in my life actually loved me that way. And to be honest, maybe I didn't even love either of them unconditionally. My love for Ranger was probably closer, but I didn't know him well enough. It's easy to love someone when you don't know their secrets, their flaws. About all I really did know for sure about him was that he didn't want to be with me. Not really the basis on which to build a relationship. A while I could now admit that I loved Joe without breaking into a cold sweat, he was certainly right in saying that I didn't love him enough to sacrifice for him.

Uggh, this was much to serious a thought process during a Mets game. I smiled at Joe, realizing that even if our love did have limits, it was still love. And maybe that was enough. I turned back to the game, determined to put off these thoughts till later. Much, much later. Ah, yes, my good friend denial, I thought. All though by this point, I was so confused that I wasn't entirely sure any more what exactly it was that I was trying to deny.

-----------------------------------------------

Remember that impending sense of doom I felt a couple days ago, looking through Jimmy's records? Well it was back, I realized, as I sat staring at Ranger open-mouthed.

"Did you just say that he killed an Army officer?" I asked, not sure at all anymore that finding out the contents of those records was a step in the right direction. It definitely felt like the wrong direction now.

"Bludgeoned was actually the word used," Ranger answered.

"Bludgeoned," I repeated softly, thinking this through. "With a bat?" I asked. Ranger nodded. "Wait, you said if it was something serious, then there would have been a court-martial, with public records. So there was a cover-up!" I added excitedly. I had found my conspiracy.

"Uh, slow down there, slugger, not quite," Ranger said, smirking. "Turns out there was another officer involved in the bludgeoning, an Officer McLaren. The military prosecutors came down hard on McLaren, so they gave testimonial immunity to Jimmy Clark."

I was frantically thinking back to every Law and Order episode I had seen recently, trying to find the correlation between that and military court. "Oh, you mean he testified against the other guy, like to get a lighter sentence?"

"Yeah, but in this case, he got off with just the discharge. Guess they really wanted McLaren."

"Hmm," I replied, now not sure at all if this was helpful or not. Sure, it meant that Jimmy boy was much more accustomed to wielding a baseball bat than it seemed at first glance, but that didn't really help me. Apart from the huge warning lights going off in my head to run like hell if I saw Jimmy with a bat.

"Well, thanks for the info," I said, standing up to leave.

"Don't thank me yet, babe, there's more."

I sank back into my seat, that feeling of dread coming back at his tone.

"I asked around," he continued, "and found out that part of the reason the army let him go so easily was that Jimmy's not entirely mentally stable."

"A few fries short of a happy meal?" I quipped, grinning.

Ranger just stared at me for a second, before smiling. "Only you would find a correlation between mental illness and McDonalds."

I continued grinning. I could always find a correlation to McDonalds. We all need comfort food, and what better to think about when confronted with an instable stalker. Although, weren't all stalkers, by definition, a few screws loose? I mean, no one completely with it would leave a $300 bouquet of flowers in my apartment with a threatening card (yes, I tracked them down, that's what they cost), or strap a bomb to me, or shove me in the trunk of their car (or hearse), or chase me down in a rabbit suit, or threaten to chop off my fingers…..yeah, well, like I said, a few screws loose.

"It appears that Clark recently finished a tour in Iraq, and is suffering from PTSD. He was seeing an army psychiatrist for that, and while there, he was diagnosed as well with Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

"That's nothing like spontaneous combustion, right?" I asked nervously. Cause I was a fire hazard all by myself, the last thing I needed was to hang around someone who could actually combust.

"No," Ranger replied, lips twitching up in obvious amusement. He may think it's funny, but seriously, any additional risk of explosion around me is just one addition too many.

"It's a psychological disorder," Ranger continued, "in the same category as kleptomania or pyromania." My eyes widened slightly at pyro….again, this guy with the flames! "It basically means he can't control his rage – he could violently erupt at any point, without warning."

"Well, that's not as bad as inexplicably combusting into flames, but I guess it's still not good for me, huh?"

"No," said Ranger, getting serious now. "Combined with PTSD, it's bad news for everyone. He's going to be hyperviligent, always looking for the slightest threat – which is how he's seeing you. His body is still in combat mode, so he's going to react strongly to you chasing him, and lash back. Combine that with explosive violent rages, and he could be very, very dangerous, and he's going to be hard to reason with."

"Greeeaaat" I drawled out. This was just getting better and better. At least he had a legitimate reason to be crazy, more so than some of the other guys who had been chasing me.

I didn't know much about post-traumatic stress disorder, though with my life, I probably would at some point. "What exactly is PTSD?" I asked Ranger, seeing as how he seemed to know what he was talking about.

"You know how when you get into an adrenaline-filled situation, you're body automatically goes into fight-or-flight mode? Well, with PTSD, basically, that never fades away. So in his mind, he's still in danger, still constantly on guard and watching for any threat, re-living the trauma over and over again in flashbacks or nightmares."

"Wow, have you ever dealt with that?" I didn't think he would actually answer, but as many bad situations as Ranger's been in, I was certainly curious.

He gave me a blank look for a minute, but finally answered. "Every soldier deals with it some level of it" he said, noncommittally. I had a feeling by his face that that was all I was going to get. "You're more susceptible to PTSD if you have another psychological disorder. I guess the army didn't diagnose the other issue when they did their initial psych evaluations, since it's pretty rare and hard to spot. But because of it, he's ended up with a pretty severe case of PTSD."

"So…when I started chasing Jimmy, he thought I was what, out to attack him?" I asked.

"Probably thought you were out to 'capture' him. In his mind, you're an enemy soldier, and he's protecting himself accordingly."

"Well, I guess that's more information than we had earlier."

"Yep. It doesn't help with finding him, but we know his motivation know, and more about how to deal with him when we do find him."

"Yeah, but basically he could be remarkably violent when we do find him." Great. Guess that impending sense of doom I had earlier wasn't so preemptive after all. I was pretty sure that it was now a safe bet that this was not going to be pretty when it ended.

"You tell Morelli about our friend Jimmy yet?" Ranger asked, smirking.

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him….for about 7 seconds. I did manage to not stick my fingers behind my ears and sing 'nana nana boo boo.' I'm pretty sure the road to more maturity was a trial and error sort of road anyway.

Ranger just shook his head at me.

"Maybe if you talk to him, you could not mention this?" I asked.

His eyes widened slightly. "You really think I'm the best person to help you get along with your boyfriend?"

"Uh, no. I just meant, you know, if you happen to talk to him…" I trailed off, realizing the ridiculousness of my request.

"Yeah, I make it a habit to talk to Morelli on a regular basis, about you." Ranger said dryly. Wow, sarcasm from Batman, big step.

"Never mind, I'll get around to telling him eventually," I said, blushing, standing to leave. I was thoroughly embarrassed by this point. I mean really, the man said he was okay with me and Morelli, but did I really have to rub his face in it? I really needed to learn to be a better friend, here.

"Hey, just a heads up, I'll probably need you on another distraction job next week."

"Okay, see you." I replied, heading out. If this one went anywhere near as easily as the last one, it would be a piece of cake, although to be honest, that impending sense of doom was coming back. Maybe I should back out of this job. Nah, I can't back out of a job from Ranger, who am I kidding. That man has powers of persuasion like you wouldn't believe. There would be no backing out of anything, no matter what my spidy-sense said.

---------------------------

The next week was surprisingly calm. Caught a few skips, bought a few clothes, ate a few cluck-in-a-bucket meals, avoided my mother, avoided talking to Morelli…..just an average week. No notes, no crazy stalkers, no poaching from Ranger. By the end of the week, I was vacillating between calling it boring and calling it a relief.

Probably it was boring because there had been on huge, drawn out, complete with hand gestures and a betting pool, knock-out fight between Morelli and I. Could be because I hadn't told him that I had picked up a crazy stalker….or it could be our new found compromise that he wouldn't yell about my job anymore. But because I had blown my end of that compromise out of the water, I was pretty sure it was the former.

I was going to tell him, I really was. This time I couldn't even blame it on sex. No, now my hesitation was entirely based on fear. I had managed to stay at my apartment this week, in case I actually was being watched. But I was pretty sure that that piece of information would not make Morelli take the whole situation any better. And really, nothing had happened for almost a week now – maybe Jimmy had just calmed down, and realized I stopped looking for him.

I really had too. After Ranger explained about the inner-workings of this guy's mind, I backed way off. It's not like I want stalkers, it's just that usually after I get one, I can't shake them. It seemed like I had an easy way out on this one, and I personally was quite okay with the idea of Vinnie loosing his bond money. I still had two more weeks before the bond expired, but I figured Jimmy could use some time to cool off. Ranger said next week we could search for him together, but seeing as how we had no leads….well, let's just say that I wasn't overly eager.

Which brings me back to Morelli. I could ask for his help, but of course that would require explaining why exactly I shouldn't be out looking for sweet little Jimmy Clark myself. He knew that Clark was one of my skips, but hadn't said anything about it. Maybe he just forgot. Or maybe _that_ was the new calm version of Morelli. See how much fun denial can be?

As I was sitting on my couch, shoveling through a carton of Ben and Jerry's, contemplating Joe and his Italian temper, the phone rang, singing the Batman theme.

Smiling, I grabbed it. "Yo."

"Yo Babe."

"What's up?"

"Remember that distraction I mentioned?"

"Uh huh," I replied, silently screaming, no, no! I had actually forgotten, but apparently my spidey-sense had not. There were alarm bells going off like mad in my head.

"Tonight. I'll pick you up at 9:30. Dress classy."

"Um, are you sure about this, cause I'm really not," I stuttered out, before realizing I was talking to dead air. Damn it! Just once I wanted to hang up first. I debated calling him back to discuss my concerns, and decided it just wasn't worth it. I'll ask him to add more guys to the door when he came to pick me up. I wasn't sure at all if my concern was based on anything, but I generally trusted my instincts, that they definitely weren't happy.

I tried to keep myself calm as I got ready. I mean really, it was just a distraction job. What could go wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

_----------------------------------------------------_

_I tried to keep myself calm as I got ready. I mean really, it was just a distraction job. What could go wrong?_

What could go wrong indeed? Apparently a lot. And I mean a lot.

By nine, I looked hot, if I may say so myself. Ranger had said classy, and by god, I think I had hit it. The dark red dress was a soft fabric, very feminine in spite of the sultry color. Thin straps criss-crossed over my back, showing lots of skin. That was balanced out, though, by the soft, flowing knee-length hem line. I left my hair down in soft curls, and skipped the eye make-up in favor of dark red stained lips. The final result was a soft, feminine look that screamed sex without looking like was I was willing to give it up then and there. Classy. Well, that's Jersey's definition of classy at least.

Twenty minutes later, Bobby and Lester burst through my door like little boys, shouldering the other aside to get in first. One look at me, though, and they both froze in their tracks. "Damn Bombshell, what happened to you?" Lester finally asked.

By this time, I was getting very nervous. "No, no she's fine. She just looks different." Bobby said into his mic. Apparently Tank or Ranger had heard Lester's remark and were worried.

"I was trying for classy, did I not make it?" I asked. No idea why I was asking these two if I looked classy, but their reaction was really starting to make me sweat. Maybe I hadn't reached the perfect two-toned look I had imagined, maybe I just looked bizarre.

"No, no, sweetheart," Lester responded, finally registering my worry. "You look amazing. I was just expecting the short skirts and sluttly look, you know? This…" Lester paused, swallowing hard, "You look good. Boss is meeting us there." This last part was mumbled as he headed back towards the door.

I swung my gaze to Bobby, flabbergasted. Bobby was cracking up laughing by this point. He reached over and wrapped one arm around my shoulder. "Come on, bomber. Let's go. Don't pay any attention to Lester. See he's never seen a lady all dressed up before, so he doesn't know what to do," he said, winking at me. "Me, I know exactly what to do," he continued, looking me up and down. Leering, more like it.

"Hey!" I yelled, leaning away from him. "That's no way to treat a lady either, Bobby. I'm starting to think that you two are just too cute for your own good – you don't have any idea what to do if a girl doesn't fall all over herself for you first."

"Well, we don't have that problem often, it's not really our fault that you only have eyes for the boss," Bobby replied, grabbing my hand and dragging me out the door.

I just glared. Yeesh. Did no one remember that I have a boyfriend?

On the drive to a nice club a little outside of Trenton, I brought up my earlier hesitation with the guys.

"Don't worry, Bombshell," Lester explained from the passenger seat. "The skip is Robert Goldberg, white collar embezzling charge. Not violent, but he has a lot of friends, so this was the easiest way to get him. Shouldn't be anything too difficult though. We have one of our guys, Mark, behind the bar, so he should be right there the whole time Bobby will be inside too. Ranger will give you a mic when we get there."

"Ok, that makes me feel better," I said. My earlier apprehension abated some at the knowledge that he wasn't violent, but something still felt off.

About that time I looked up to see Lester and Bobby exchanging glances, doing that damn Rangeman ESP.

"Okay boys, spill it." Lester glanced back at me, but didn't open his mouth. I glared.

Finally, Bobby looked at me in the rear-view mirror, sighed, and explained. "It seems that Morelli is the one who was investigating Goldberg. He knows were trying to get the guy tonight, but I don't know if he realized we were using you as the bait."

Great, I thought, sinking a bit lower on the bench seat. It's not like I try to get involved in Morelli's investigations. Really, I don't know how it happens. But, hopefully the guys were right, and it would go smoothly. He couldn't yell if I get the guy and nothing goes wrong, right?

Uggh, why won't that nagging feeling go away?

Twenty minutes later, I was wired (without the usual fondling, I might add), prepped, and ready to go in. Ranger hadn't reacted to my appearance nearly as vocally as Lester and Bobby had. He had, however, stopped dead in his tracks when he saw me get out of the car. He stood there staring for a second, then swallowed hard and continued toward me to wire me. He didn't actually say anything, but in Ranger-speak, that was a damn good reaction.

I headed in, spotted Mr. Goldberg almost immediately, and headed toward the bar. Within minutes, I had him reeled-in, so to speak, and we were on the dance floor. As we were whirling around, I caught sight of Morelli near one of the front exits. He didn't look overly thrilled, but there were no veins popping anywhere, so I felt pretty sure it was okay. Another whirl around, and I saw Bobby on the floor with a cute blond. So far so good.

Ten minutes later, my stomach dropped and I froze. Not good, not good! I didn't have an earpiece, so I wasn't sure if anyone else had recognized him, and I wasn't sure how to pass along the message in my mic without alerting Ranger's skip. But there, right there, calmly sitting at the bar and staring a hole through me, was Jimmy Clark. My freaking psycho stalker was sitting there in full view. And he did not look happy. He also didn't look surprised to see me, which made me more than a little antsy. If he had followed me here, then he was still looking for me. That was not good.

About that point, Robert Goldberg, who I was still on the dance floor with, though I had abruptly stopped dancing, realized there was a problem.

"What's wrong, baby, who's that guy?" he asked.

"Uhh," I started, thinking fast. I needed to find some way to explain it to alert Ranger without making Goldberg realize we were after him. I mean, I couldn't just say 'well, I'm a bounty hunter, and I've been chasing that guy, so can you hang on while I go get him?'

"He's an ex," I said, after a light bulb finally went off in my head. "I've been having some trouble with him following me and leaving creepy messages ever since we broke up. I didn't expect to see him here tonight and it startled me. I really thought he had finally given up."

The whole time I'm scanning the club, praying that Ranger understood what I was saying, and that one of the Merry Men were coming to rescue me. Shit, I didn't even know what to do. Do I run after Jimmy and try to apprehend him as long as I have so much back-up? Or do I stick with Goldberg here and leave Jimmy for another night? See, this is why I need an earpiece, right here. I would do so much better if I had someone's voice in my head, telling me what to do next. Then again, that could be said for most days.

"Don't worry. Did you want to get out of here, maybe get somewhere away from him?" Robert asked, starting to lead me off the dance floor. Well, I guess that was an easy enough way to get him out of here, though I still wasn't sure if that's what I should be doing. Finally, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bobby, still with the blond, looking right at me. He nodded once, discreetly. Thank god, he had apparently heard the dilemma over the mic.

"Sure, let's get out of here," I answered, following him out the front door. Apparently, however, Bobby's nod had not been cautious enough. The second we cleared the doors, Goldberg slammed me up against the brick wall, and shoved his forearm across my throat.

"I know who you are now, bitch," he said, his face only inches from mine. I was gasping for air, more from fright than my air pipe being blocked, but within a second, Tank had him off of me and cuffed, and Ranger was right in front of me.

"Jimmy's in there!" I said, turning to go back in.

"Stephanie!" I heard Ranger yell, as I dashed back inside. I saw Morelli out of the corner of my eye, now definitely looking furious. I didn't have time for that, though. With all these men here, surely we could grab Jimmy.

I glanced around the dim interior, just in time to see Jimmy heading toward the exit. I took off after him. I knew Cal and at least one other guy were outside that door. If I hurried, I could let them know and they could grab him.

"He's going out the back" I said into my chest, hoping the mic picked it up, as I dashed after him. I blew through the door, fully expecting him to already be cuffed. But there was no one outside. No Jimmy, no Cal, no Merry Men, and certainly no cuffs.

That's weird, I thought as I stood there in the dimly lit parking lot. I heard a shoe on the gravel behind me. My heart rate skyrocketed as I belatedly realized the folly of standing outside alone.

My last conscious thought, as pain seared through my head, was that Joe really was not going to stay calm about his.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------

When everything swam back into view, three EMT's were hovering over me. Crap. I was out long enough for the paramedics to get here. "I'm perfectly fine," I mumbled, pushing their arms out of the way to stand up. I was a bit dizzy, but nothing worse than I'd had before. Ranger and Morelli were standing side-by-side, both with blank faces.

"We need to check your head, Ms. Plum. You have a concussion," one acne-covered EMT who couldn't possibly be old enough, said to me, directing me to the waiting ambulance.

"Fine, but I'm not going to the hospital," I said, glaring at the pimply kid.

"You don't have to go the hospital, Babe, just let them check you out," Ranger spoke up.

Morelli glared at him, and then at me. "She'll go to the hospital if she needs to. It's not your decision" he said, directing his anger to Ranger for the moment.

I just rolled my eyes and sat down on the back bumper of the ambulance while the kid started poking me. Normally I would have started yelling at both of them, but at the moment I just wanted silence.

Finally, the EMT pronounced me alive and well. "You'll have a bad bruise, but the concussion doesn't seem too severe, even given the amount of time you were out. I'd like you to go to the hospital to stay overnight, but…"

He trailed off when he caught my look. "Just sign these papers, take some advil, and don't go to sleep for at least 6 hours" he finished. Yeah, yeah. Sadly, I know the drill for concussions. I even still have some pain pills at home from the last one that I can use.

As soon as I was left alone, Morelli came up to me. "When exactly were you going to explain about Jimmy? And what the hell were you doing running out the back?"

Uggh. I knew there was a reason I should have told him. Well, there were a lot of reasons, but putting off this scene was a good one too.

"Sorry, he backed off, so I thought it was under control. And I thought that Cal was still out back and could apprehend him, I wasn't going to try to take him myself." 

"Under control? Cupcake, you just went into a dark parking lot by yourself, and the man pistol-whipped you in the back of the head! That's not under control."

I had wondered what he had hit me with, but hadn't gotten around to asking. At least that was a new way. Hurt like the devil though. "Joe, can we really finish this later, please?"

"Sure. Fine. Whatever. I need to go deal with Goldberg and take some reports. You'll stay here till I get back in a few minutes?"

I nodded, relieved that he was leaving it alone, for now at least.

I sat there with an ice pack on the back of my head for a few minutes, until Ranger walked up to me. He removed it and felt around on the bump softly. Satisfied, he handed me the ice back.

"I'm sorry," I said, before he could start too.

"It's okay, babe. How's the head?"

"Fine," I lied.

"Did he do anything else, are you hurt anywhere else? How's your throat and your back?" he asked gently.

At hearing the concerned tone of his voice, my eyes filled with tears. Realizing how shaky I was now, I leaned forward until my head rested on his chest. "I'm fine," I managed to blubber into his shirt. His arms came up around me. When he started stroking my back, I immediately burst into tears. Call it a delayed reaction to fear or stress or Joe or whatever, but all I could do was cry.

Ranger didn't say anything, he just stood there and let me cry, and kept rubbing my back. Finally, I had cried it all out, and settled for just hiccupping. I didn't move though, it felt safe and comfortable for the first time that night. I hadn't realized how nervous I still was about Jimmy until I saw him staring at me tonight. The realization that he was definitely still stalking me was not good news.

The fact that Joe found us like that, with me still hiccupping and Ranger still rubbing my back, was not good news either. Ranger helped me stand up, handed me off to Joe without looking at me, and walked toward Tank. I forced myself to look up and meet Joe's eyes. I hadn't done anything wrong, after all. "You done?" I asked.

"Yeah. Come on, there's nothing left to be done here tonight. I'm taking you home" Joe said harshly.

I looked around again for Ranger, but didn't see him before Joe started dragging me towards his truck. Wearily, I didn't do anything but tag along.

"Joe, I'm sorry…" I started, not sure where to even go next.

"Don't say anything else Steph, I don't want to discuss it" Joe snapped angrily, giving me a menacing glance before looking back at the road. "You don't want me to yell about your job, then fine. But I have nothing else to say to you at the moment."

"Excuse me?" I snapped back, now equally as angry. "That's your solution, just not speak to me anymore. That's bullshit, Joe, this wasn't even my fault!"

"Not your fault?" Joe repeated, laughing mirthlessly. "No, Cupcake, it's never your fault. Things just _happen_ to go to shit whenever you show up. You go dashing out the back, without telling anyone and no back up. But no, no, it's never _your_ fault. I swear, you're presence is all that's necessary. And while we're on the subject, you and Manoso looked pretty cozy."

"Good God, Joe. I was scared. He's my friend. It wasn't exactly the midnight tryst you seem to be imagining" I returned snidely.

"Yeah, well it didn't seem to be all that 'friendly' either. Damn it, Cupcake" Joe yelled, banging his hand on the steering wheel. "Why can't you see it! The man wants you in bed. Why can't you just stay away from him?"

"Because he's my friend! We've been over and over this, Joe. He's one of my best friends, and I will not cut him out of my life just because you're jealous! And so what if he wants me in bed? I made a commitment to you, if you remember. Which means that nothing, nothing will happen between Ranger and I. Why can't you trust me?" I yelled.

"Why can't you just admit that you're in love with him?" he yelled right back, as I gulped in air.

"I chose you, Joe" I said quietly.

"Did you really, Cupcake? Cause days like this, when I find you wrapped up in his arms, when you turn to him first, I really wonder. What made you choose me? He clearly seems to be your first choice."

"What do you want me to say, Joe? Would it really make you feel better to know that Ranger doesn't want me? Does it make you feel like more of man, knowing that you won me?" I spat out, angry beyond belief by this point.

"Well that's too bad. I'd almost like to hand you over to Manoso right now. Maybe you could ruin his investigations for a while, instead of mine."

I just sat there open-mouthed, shocked that he actually just said that. "Joe, I was just doing my job. We got the guy you needed," I returned quietly, still determined that my job wouldn't cause any more fights in this relationship. Although, I must say, after the crack about Ranger, that determination was very quickly fading.

"Yeah, we barely got the guy. He almost got away because everyone was too busy chasing you and the current hair-brained idea you had in your head. God, Steph, you can be so selfish sometimes. I swear you really think you live in fucking bubble. Why can't you see that your actions actually effect the people around you! You go running back inside, and everyone has to scramble to protect you. You get attacked, and again, everyone has to scramble. He could have killed you Stephanie, before anyone else made it back there. You don't seem to get that. You make these stupid decisions, and everyone else is left dealing with the consequences, while you just stand there and say that it wasn't your fault!"

I sat there staring at him. I couldn't believe he just said that. "But I'm fine. We got the guy and everything worked out. I was just doing my job," I repeated softly.

"Yeah, you were just doing a job which you are untrained for and completely fucking incompetent at!" Joe screamed.

Oh no, no, he did not just say that. Just as I opened my mouth to start screaming back, headlights flashed behind us, trying to get us to pull over. Before the second vehicle even came to a stop, Tank jumped out of the passenger side and strode angrily up to our car. I don't think I've ever seen Tank really angry. Maybe the one time he threw that guy out of a three story window, but he really just seemed more amused at the time. I had a feeling it took a lot to anger him, and the way he was walking toward my side of the car was enough to make me pee myself.

He viciously yanked my door open, and before I could even protest he shoved his hand down my shirt. The second he looked at me, I knew exactly what had happened. I froze as the blood drained from my face. The wire. I had left with it still on, and the entire crew of Merry Men had just heard Joe.

Joe, unfortunately, had no such epiphany. "Hey!" he yelled, as he lunged toward Tank's arm, which was still down my shirt at this point. "Good God, Steph, just how many of Manoso's men are you giving it up to?"

Ohh, this wasn't going to end well.

Tank started speaking, in that deathly quiet voice that would make stronger men then Joe Morelli cower in fear.

"You should be very, very glad that I convinced Ranger to stay in the truck while I retrieved this, Morelli" Tank said, holding up the wire. "Every RangeMen just heard you say that. So I'd watch my back for a while, if I were you. Ranger doesn't let anyone insult Stephanie, not even you.

"Bombshell, you wanna come with us or stay here?" he asked, looking at me. I started to unbuckle my seatbelt, but gasped softly when Joe's arm shot out and grabbed my wrist tightly. Tank's look actually became darker, if that's possible.

"Let go of her Morelli" he ground out. With the mic still turned on, that was all Ranger needed to hear to instantly show up at Joe's window.

Ohh, this really wasn't going to end well.

"I'm fine to go with Joe," I quickly said, trying to diffuse the tension that was quickly escalating in the confines of the truck. Ranger and I looked at each other for a second. I guess I communicated my message, because he very slightly nodded and took a small step back. I could swear though, that he seemed disappointed. I wasn't sure if it was aimed at me, or if he was sad he wouldn't have the chance to beat Joe to a pulp tonight. Although my stomach turned over a bit at the though that his disappointment was directed at me. Funny how that fleeting look hurt me worse than Joe actually saying, correct that, screaming the words in my face.

Tank leaned over and, for such a big guy, managed to whisper very quietly, forcing me to look away from Ranger. "There'll be somebody outside Morelli's all night if you need a ride anywhere." He looked me right in the eyes. "Anywhere," he stressed.

With that, both men stepped back towards their vehicle, and Joe took off. The remainder of the ride to his house was blissfully quiet. Well, silence filled with this much tension is rarely blissful, but compared to earlier, it was beyond a relief.

We parked and I slowly followed Joe inside, neither of us missing the black SUV parking directly across the street.

"I'm surprised you're even coming inside, Cupcake. You're knight in shining amour is waiting" Joe said, yanking off his boots and throwing them aside, before landing on the couch, running his fingers through his hair.

I stayed where I was just inside the door. "I came inside so we can finish this tonight, Joe" I said softly, my earlier rage gone, but the headache back with blinding force. Now all I wanted was a bath and my own bed. But not before I made very sure that Morelli understood what I was about to say.

"Finish what, Cupcake?" Joe asked, his voice getting all husky.

Ugg! What is it about men that they think they can solve everything with sex. "You just called me a whore, when twenty other people could hear you!" I screamed.

"I didn't mean it, I just lost my temper. How did you expect me to react when 'Behemoth Rambo' over there shoved his hand down your shirt?"

"That's all you have to say?" I asked. "You feel perfectly justified in what you said? You said that I'm sleeping with Ranger, when we've already been over this, and you said that I'm now also whoring myself out to his men. Not only that, but you called me incompetent at my job! How many times do we have to go over this? I am not quitting my job, and I am not sleeping with Ranger!"

I sighed, staring at him while he just sat there. I had had another epiphany in the car (the first one being, oh my god, Ranger just heard that entire conversation). I realized that I did, in part, choose Joe because I couldn't choose Ranger. Oh I could justify it saying that I made the mature choice, deciding to be with the man who could actually commit to me, actually provide me a stable life. But in reality I had just settled for what Joe wanted, what my mother wanted, what the Burg wanted. And even if Ranger didn't want to be with me, that was beside the point right now. Regardless of what anyone else wanted for me, _I_ didn't want to be with a man who treated me like Joe just did, for any reason. This was a decision I had to make for me, completely independent of my feelings for Ranger.

"This is it Joe, we're done" I said. I turned around and headed out the door, not even slowing down when he started yelling for me to stop. I walked directly across the street and hopped into the car waiting there. To my relief, Bobby was behind the wheel. I wasn't sure I was up to handling Ranger right now.

"Where to, Bombshell?" Bobby asked.

"My apartment, please. Thanks."

"No problem" he replied. I was thankful he slipped into his own version of 'the zone' while driving. I sat just as quietly, willing myself not to cry until I was alone. My head was killing me at this point. I'm pretty sure that when the EMT kid told me to take it easy, he wasn't envisioning this screaming match.

"You don't have to come up" I said quickly, as Bobby pulled into my lot. "I'm good, I just really need to be alone. Sorry you had to hear all that."

"No problem" Bobby said again, giving me a soft smile as I jumped out of the SUV. "Oh and Bombshell, we didn't hear much of anything. Boss had everyone switch frequencies as soon as he realized what was happening."

Well, so Morelli had called me a whore in front of two people, instead of 20. Funny how that didn't make me feel any better. I thanked Bobby, who had been so sweet, really, and drug myself toward the elevator. I wasn't even bothering to kid myself with the stairs after everything tonight. I was going to be covered in bruises tomorrow, between the brick wall, the arm in my throat, and the pistol-whipping. Uggh. Of all the jobs I should have turned down, this one was a the top of my list.

I stopped inside, staring at the back of my door, wondering if there was any way to stop a certain someone from breaking in. Well, two someones really, though I didn't figure even Morelli had big enough balls to try breaking in tonight. I briefly considered moving the couch in front of the door, but decided it just wasn't worth the physical exertion it would require.

I didn't even bother to yank off my dress before crashing across the bed. With the headache I had after that fight, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I was just starting to relax when I heard the locks tumble.

Ohh, this really, really wasn't going to end well.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

---------------------------------------------------------------

I laid perfectly still, listening carefully. Even as close as I was listening, though, I never did hear his footsteps through the apartment. He quickly appeared in my doorway. He just stood there and looked at me for a minute.

"Can't go to sleep, Babe. Concussion," he finally said.

"Uggh! After the night I've had, all I want to do is crash," I whined, my eyes filling with tears. I was upset over Joe, in pain, scared, and more than a little embarrassed that Ranger heard the fight.

Ranger seemed to soften a bit at the sight of the tears. Not that I hadn't already cried all over him once tonight. Might as well wrap all the humiliations into one evening and get it over with, right?

"Come on," he said on a sigh, grabbing my hand and yanking me off the bed. "Put on some pajamas and lets go watch Ghostbusters."

I grinned at him, in spite of the tears. This man was amazing. After all that tonight, all the things he should be yelling at me about, or at least questioning me about, he's going to sit with me and watch Ghostbusters.

Ranger lifted me up and planted me on my feet. Between the concussion and the 4" FMP's I had forgotten to take off, I wobbled. Well, the term wobble might be generous. In reality, I immediately feel flat on my ass. I maintain I wobbled. Ranger gave me a half smile and picked me back up, this time hanging on to me until I kept my balance. He left me alone to change and went to find my copy of the movie.

By the time I made it into the living room in sweats, after detouring through the bathroom to pull my hair up, Ranger had made me a cup of coffee and started the movie. What really made me smile, though, was the white bakery bag sitting on the coffee table. I grabbed it, confirmed it was full of boston crèmes, and gave him my first real smile since he had wired me earlier that night. God, was that really just a few hours ago?

Ranger tugged my hand until I landed on his lap. I shifted until I got comfy and tucked my head into his neck. I tried to stay calm, but I couldn't help it. I started crying, yet again. Everything that had happened with Jimmy, everything Joe had said, it was just too much. I cried for a good twenty minutes. As embarrassed as I was, I just couldn't stop. Finally it came to a shuddering stop, and I scurried to the bathroom to wash my face and try to get rid of the puffiness.

I came back into the living room, sat on the couch – on the other end this time, away from Ranger, hoping that would stop the damn waterworks – and focused on Ghostbusters. Between that, the coffee, and the weird tension emanating from the other end of the couch, I was still wide awake when it ended.

"You're seriously not going to let me go to sleep, are you?" I asked him.

"Not for another…" he paused, checking his watch, "two hours at least."

Crap. Had it really already been four hours since Jimmy got to me? That fight with Morelli took way longer than usual.

"So, what happened with Morelli? Thought you were staying there tonight."

I so do not want to discuss this, but I guess it's inevitable.

"You heard what he said. We're done. I won't be in a relationship with someone who treats me like that."

"He's treated you like that before. You go back."

I glanced over at him, but his blank face was firmly in place. I sighed. Guess he did have a point, as much as it upset me to hear it.

"I'm done this time, for good. I was settling for what everyone else wanted for me," I paused, giving him a calculating look. "But it's not what I want. I don't want to be treated like that, plain and simple. I'd rather be alone and sex-less than be in a relationship where I'm not trusted or respected."

"I can fix the sex-less part."

"Yeah, like I needed that reminder." I was pretty sure I could remember that one on my own. One glance at him, and I remembered that. Still didn't make it a good idea.

"So now that you've grilled me, what are you going to do to keep me awake for two hours?"

I saw Ranger's wolf grin out of the corner of my eye. Without even looking at him, I chucked a pillow right at his face.

"Get your mind out the gutter, Manoso. Batman Begins or Men in Blank?"

"You trying to tell me something with your movie selection?"

"Nah, I just have really good taste in movies." I replied, deciding on Batman Begins for both of us. I swapped out the movies, poured some more coffee, ate one, or four, more boston crèmes, and settled in.

As the opening credits rolled, I couldn't hold my tongue any longer.

"Ranger, do you think I'm selfish?" I asked quietly.

He froze for a second, and then grabbed the remote to pause the movie. The affirmative answer implied in the immediate, edgy silence made me instantly regret bringing it up.

"Forget I asked," I mumbled quickly, lunging for the remote. He just stared at me and held the remote still. Pretty sure I couldn't get it away from him no matter how I tried. I just let out an aggravated sigh and flopped back against the couch.

"What'd Joe say to you exactly?"

My eyes widened. "You heard it, you know exactly what he said."

"I was a little busy thinking up ways to hurt him. Besides, I want to hear from you, not him."

I hesitated. It had really hurt, what Joe said. In part because I was terrified he was right. I swallowed hard. "He said…" I paused, cleared my throat, and tried again. "He said I was selfish. That I live in a bubble. That I do what I want, and leave everyone else to pick up the pieces, and stand there saying that it wasn't my fault."

By this time my eyes had filled with tears again. Damn waterworks, they were never going to stop. Ranger just sat there staring at me for a minute.

"You care about everyone around you, Stephanie." Ranger started, speaking very softly. "You'd do anything for your friends and your family. You willingly put your life on the line for my daughter before you even met her. There is nothing, _nothing_ selfish about you, Babe.'

I gave him a wobbly smile. The emotion in his usually blank face and voice was palpable. Funny how just those words could almost erase all the hurt Joe had caused.

He looked like he was about to say something else, then just shook his head and started to push play on the movie.

"Spill it" I said, glaring at him.

He hesitated another second, looking intently at me, but finally started. "Do you know why Tank, Bobby, Lester and I make up the core team for Rangeman?"

I shook my head.

"We all served together. I was their commander in the army. We have fought together and worked together for over ten years. I trust and value their input and ideas, especially Tank. I never hesitate to leave everything in Tank's hands whenever I need to. But what really makes us work well together is that fact that, when push comes to shove, I'm still their commander. They all, even Tank, instantly obey me, no matter what. They all trust me, 100 to get them out of whatever we're in the middle of. And I trust them, 100 to do exactly what I say, to follow the plan, no matter what. Because if I don't know exactly what their doing and how they will respond, them I can't keep them safe. And I'm entirely responsible for their safety. When we pull you into a situation, you're an unknown. I'm never sure what you're going to do next, or how you'll react to something."

"Hey!" I started to protest. That's a little harsh. I'm an 'un-known.'

"Babe," Ranger replied, smirking a bit, "I'm just saying that you don't have the same training – you don't automatically obey everything I say."

I had to grin at that. I did try to obey Ranger in cases where he clearly knew what he was doing, but sometimes it was hard. Take tonight, for example.

"Tonight, I was almost expecting you to run back in, so I was able to get men after you pretty quick." Well, he did manage to phrase that better than Joe did. He continued, "You did a great job of dealing with the surprise. You communicated to me that Jimmy was in the bar, and still got the skip out." I glowed over his praise. "But…." so much for glowing. "But, had you stuck with the plan, stayed out front with us, you wouldn't have this concussion right now." Damn I hate when he's right.

"Babe, I value your instincts, and your ability to piece things together. When we're working on a case, I want to hear what you think, what you're spidey-sense is telling you. When we're in the middle of take-down, or a dangerous situation, however, is really the time to just listen to me. You're good at your job, babe. But with some training and planning, I think you'd have more confidence, and would certainly get better. The reality, babe, is that if you got injured or worse, there are going to be a lot of people who will be left having to deal with that."

I swallowed hard. That definitely wins as the longest string of words I've ever heard him put together. I guess he did have a point, though. I can't even explain why I've been putting of getting any form of training, beyond the fact that I hate exercise.

"Guess that makes sense," I finally replied.

He just smiled and flipped the movie back on. As soon as it was over, he pulled me up off the couch and pushed me toward the bathroom. When I came out, he had picked up the living room. I had seen the domestic side of Ranger the few times we had ended up staying together, but it never failed to jar me. I went and laid down, and a minute later, he came out of the bathroom and crawled in beside me, wearing only his silk boxers.

It was after 4 am by this point, and we were both exhausted. Without even thinking, I curled up into him, resting my head on his chest. His arms came around me, pulling me closer to him, resting his face against my hair. After everything that happened, I thought I would fall asleep instantly, but I didn't. I laid there until I heard Ranger's breathing even out, and finally drifted off.

------------------------------------------------------

At eight, my alarm went off, waking us up. Well, four hours is better than nothing right? Emotionally, a night in Ranger's arms (platonically, of course) had made me feel better. Physically, I was pretty sure I had been run over by a Mac truck in my sleep. And then backed over again. And then attacked by rabid dogs while laying in the street.

Seriously, I had bruises and scrapes up and down my back from the brick wall, my throat was sore where Goldberg had so courteously tried to cut off my air supply, and of course, the huge throbbing bulge on the back of my head from the pistol-whipping and leftover dizziness from said concussion. Add in the puffy eyes with dark smudges and the scary morning hair, and I was fucking Pollyanna this morning.

If Ranger so much as hinted at me running this morning, he would be eating his balls for breakfast. By himself.

Luckily, he seemed to quickly catch on to my mood. I guess me throwing my alarm across the room clued him in. Not to mention my "shut the hell up" directed at the still-beeping alarm clock, now on the floor by the door. Chuckling, he rubbed his hand across my stomach while kissing me on the cheek. "Morning Babe" he said, his voice still gravely with sleep.

"Yeah, whatever," I managed to mumble back. He laughed louder at that. I hate morning people. He leaned over me, resting on his elbow, and kissed me. A sweet, tender kiss with lots of tongue. Well, I guess morning people aren't that bad, I thought, as he deepened the kiss. As his hand slid upward from my stomach, under my pajama top, I was starting to think that I could really get on board with this morning thing.

He finally pulled back, smiling at me. "Feel better?" he asked.

I nodded and grinned at him.

"Why don't you jump in the shower, and I'll go get you some more donuts" he said, still smiling. Have I said yet that this man is amazing.

As soon as he got dressed and left, I jumped into the shower. I put my pajamas right back on, however, knowing there was no way in hell I was going to work today. When I came out of the bathroom, Ranger was on the couch, with another pasty bag in front of him. I lunged for the bag, forgetting the dizziness, and again wobbled. And again, by wobble, I mean fell flat on my ass. Ranger lifted me back up, set me on the couch, and set the bag in my lap. He then brought me a cup of coffee, before heading to the shower himself, and I swear I didn't see him smirk once.

It was during my second boston crème that I heard a key turn in the lock.

I froze mid-chew, for once praying that my intruder actually was a psycho stalker.

"Hey Cupcake" Joe said, coming into view.

"Uh," I started to reply, unfortunately forgetting that my mouth was still full. I immediately started choking. Joe smacked me on the back. After all the shit I've been through, I would feel really stupid if it was finally a rouge boston crème that killed me. Though I could think of worse ways to go.

Finally, I was able to talk again. "What the hell are you doing here, Joe?" I asked, already thoroughly annoyed with him, even if he did just save me from death by donut. I glared and pointed at the door. "You know what, don't even answer that, just get out."

Joe didn't seem to register the fact that the shower was running (or that Ranger's car had to be in the parking lot, come to think of it), and started in. "Cupcake, I'm sorry about last night. I was scared for you and angry, and I said things I shouldn't have. Can we please just forget the whole thing?"

"Forget the whole thing?" Was he serious? He really just thought this was a spat that could be solved saying that he was mad and didn't mean it?

"Yeah. The past month has been really great. I finally feel like we're getting somewhere. I don't want to give that up over a stupid fight."

Yep, I thought, looking at him, he was serious. He actually did look sorry. He really thought he could just come over here this morning, apologize, and I would just go right back to him. Then again, it was pointed out to me last night that that is exactly what I usually do. Unhealthy pattern of behavior, my ass. This pattern was stopping now.

"No, Joe. It might have been going well that past few weeks, but it wasn't going anywhere, other than right back to the same fights. No matter how good things seemed to be going, it still came back to my job and my friendship with Ranger. You're never going to accept those, and I'm never going to give them up. There's nothing left to say, Joe. We should just cut our losses now and go on."

This was all said softly, trying to get him to understand. I did love Joe. I wanted him to stay a part of my life. He had been in my life forever, and I couldn't imagine it without him any more than I could imagine my life without Ranger. My rage from last night had abated, but my determination had not. Now I just desperately wanted him to understand so we could part as friends. Joe, unfortunately, was not nearly so calm this morning.

"Come on, Cupcake, don't be like that."

"Be like what, Joe?" I asked, as I heard the shower shut off. As aware of his surroundings as Ranger always is, I figured he would know very quickly what was going on. I wondered if he would come out of the bathroom to confront Joe or stay in there.

I didn't have to wonder long. A second later, Ranger appeared, wearing only a towel around his hips.

"What the hell?" Joe screamed, upon seeing Ranger. "Yeah Stephanie, nothing is going on? This is how you want it?"

"It wasn't like that, Joe. He's my friend, and I wasn't supposed to be alone because of the concussion."

"Bullshit, Steph, you could have stayed at my house."

"No I couldn't, Joe! What part of 'it's over' are you not getting here?"

"Fine. I'll go. You can say we're over all you want, Stephanie. But don't forget that he doesn't actually want you" he ground out, glaring at me and pointing at Ranger. "He's going to get bored and walk away, and what are you going to do then? Cause there's no fucking way you're running back to me this time."

"That's enough, Morelli. Get out." Ranger said, his voice very soft, but underlined with a rage I had rarely heard.

Joe just glared at me for another minute, and finally walked out, slamming the door behind him. We both stood silently in the apartment, frozen into place, until we heard tires squealing out of the parking lot.

Finally, I chanced a glance at Ranger, but I couldn't read anything in his expression. I sank back down on the couch as he headed back toward the bedroom. A minute later, he reappeared fully dressed. "Need a ride anywhere?" he asked.

Silently, I shook my head.

He just nodded and walked out, locking the door behind him. The second I heard the lock slide into place, the dam broke. I slid down further on the couch, until I was laying half on it and half off, crying my damn eyes out. Again.


	8. Chapter 8

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------------

After four hours of intermediately watching bad day-time TV, eating boston crèmes, crying, and banging my head on the coffee table, I felt better. I may be a procrastinator, but I could never be a couch potato. The pain in my head had finally started subsiding (from the concussion, not the self-induced banging), so I decided to trudge into the office to see if there were any easy skips.

There weren't, which left only one option if I wanted to avoid more bad day-time TV. My parents. I had turned my phone off before the distraction job the night before, and hadn't bothered to turn it back on. Seeing as how I was quite sure that my mother was ironing the dining room tablecloth right now, I figured I should go over there and put her out of her misery. Though the knowledge that Joe and I were over for good this time would probably have the opposite effect.

I wondered in, and yelled hello.

"In the living room," my mother hollered back.

Sure enough, there she was at her ironing board. It was the dining room curtains, though, instead of the tablecloth. I was pretty close. An impressive skill, really. And as often as I caused her grief, it was probably a good skill to have.

"What in the world happened last night?" she asked. "I heard from your cousin Shirley that Eddie found you behind some night club unconscious. You don't have some new crazy person after you, do you?"

Actually, I did have another crazy person after me. I had a new crazy person after me most weeks. But she didn't need to know that.

"No, Mom. It was just some skip I was helping Ranger get. He's in jail now." At least that was the partial truth. And I said it to protect her. Does that still make it a sin? Probably.

"I just don't understand why you do that job. Other daughters don't go around getting attacked outside of nightclubs…." 

I'm sure she continued, but I drown it out, munching on spice cake I found in the kitchen. I realized the easiest way to deal with my mother was simply to nod along and let her vent and get it all out. Better than her taking it out on the curtains, I guess.

After a few minutes of nodding and making appropriately sympathetic noises around the spice cake, I heard the front door slam, just in time to save me from promising to apply to the tampon factory.

"Is that Stephanie's car out front?" my grandmother screeched.

"Yeah, in the living room," I hollered. God, my eye was already starting to twitching.

"I heard you got pistol-whipped!" she said excitedly, as soon as she came into view.

"Pistol-whipped? What is that? What does that mean?" mom started asking frantically.

"I'm fine, Mom. It just means he used the butt of his gun to hit me with."

"His gun? My god you could have been shot!"

"How big was his gun, did you see it?" my grandmother contributed to the conversation.

I held up my hands to make this stop. "I'm perfectly fine guys. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I was okay, so you didn't have to worry. I have to get back to work now." I headed for the door.

"We're having pot roast for dinner," mom called after me.

"I'll see if I can make it."

"Okay, bring Joseph with you," she said. Wow, no one had heard about the breakup yet. After the pistol-whipping conversation, I figured that was a good thing and left it alone. She'll hear soon enough.

Since I had no skips and it was only three o'clock, I decided to head back to the bonds office to hang out for a bit. I realized that if my mom had not yet heard about Joe and me, then it meant no one had heard yet. Which meant I had some time to pre-empt the Burg grapevine, to make sure my side of the story got heard first. And I had just the person to do it.

"Hey girls," I said as I breezed back into the Bonds office. They both had their ear pressed to Vinnie's office. I was quite sure I didn't want to know, but it was like a train wreck. You just couldn't help yourself.

As I pressed my ear to the door, I heard the distinct sound of a cat meowing. A cat! I looked at the two other girls, who had equally horrified looks on their faces. He has a little, defenseless kitten in there!

I stumbled away from the door and landed on the couch. I couldn't even think. I was pretty sure I was traumatized. Lula sat down next to me, also silent. Connie sank into the chair behind her desk. We were all so caught up in what we had heard that we didn't even hear the door open. For once, Ranger's entrance didn't cause fanning and gasping for air.

"Babe, what's wrong, what happened?" he asked softly, kneeling in front of me. I'm pretty sure he thought something was legitimately wrong, like we had just found body parts chopped up in the back room.

Looking at him, I burst out laughing. He didn't seem nearly so amused. "Vinnie, he's…." I finally choked out, pointing at his closed office door. He stood up and put his ear to the door. His eyes widened significantly when he heard.

"Vinnie, out here, now" he said, pounding once on the door, hard. "Does he have a kitten in there?" he asked us, incredulously.

The three of us just nodded. My laughter had subsided when I remembered the poor kitten currently being violated.

Vinnie quickly bustled through the door, still buckling his pants. Ewww! He looked nervously at Ranger. "Oh, Ranger. Good, you're here. I needed to talk to you about some cases we just got in." Vinnie was actually stuttering by this point. All of a sudden, Joyce Barnhart came out of the door behind him.

"Hi Ranger," she cooed. Yes, she fucking cooed. I was off the couch onto my feet before she finished her cooing. Ranger just ignored Joyce, and turned to me to smile his entire 200 watts. Still ignoring Joyce, he turned to Vinnie.

"Well?"

"Oh, yes, yes." Vinne, still stuttering, walked back into his office, and closed the door after Ranger followed him in, leaving Joyce standing in the office with the three of us. Not good for Joyce.

All Lula had to do was stand up off the couch and take as step toward her. Joyce squeaked and practically ran out the door.

After her exit, the three of us just sat nervously, waiting for Ranger to reappear. Within just a minute, he came out of Vinnie's office. Sure enough, he was carrying a tiny, black and white spotted kitten, who was all cuddled up to Ranger's chest and purring. All three of our jaws simultaneously hit the floor.

"Here," he said, dumping the kitten in my lap. Well, he tried to dump the kitten onto my lap. It was clawing on his shirt, trying valiantly to stay on his shoulder, and was now crying loudly. It had to be the most adorable thing I had ever seen. He finally untangled himself from the kitten and handed him to me, now glaring about his clearly ruined image. "He probably needs to be sanitized."

With that, Ranger walked out pushing on his sunglasses, climbed into his Porsche, and drove off. Crap, what was I supposed to do with this thing? I turned to Lula. "Wanna cat?"

She started to shake her head, but stopped and reached for the kitten, who was still crying. As soon as Lula settled the kitten in her lap, he stopped crying and went back to purring. "Well, seeing as how he likes me better than he likes you, I guess taking him home would be the only polite thing to do."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Besides, Tank stays at my place a lot, and I'd bet that he would like a kitten."

I really wasn't sure about that, but Connie and I both nodded the affirmative. From the look on Connie's face, it seemed a safe bet that she was as unsure about Tank's reaction as I was. Oh well, if Lula and Tank couldn't keep him, I could always hand him off to Valerie. Horses like kittens, right?

I remembered that I still had some pet supplies left over from my one short attempt to keep a cat, before I settled on Rex, tucked somewhere in a closet at home, so Lula and I headed over there to grab it. We parked in my building and headed up in the elevator, the cat now perched happily on Lula's shoulder.

I was pretty sure I had a problem when I got to my door. Of course my first clue was rather obvious – the apartment door was wide open. Good thing I had cleaned recently.

"Uh oh," Lula said as she approached the door. She set the cat down, who immediately scampered into the apartment. "Wonder if he can scare off anybody inside?"

I was pretty sure that a tiny kitten wouldn't help us much, so I hauled my gun out of my pocketbook. Personally, I was pretty impressed that it was even in there. I certainly didn't remember putting in there. When I realized it was loaded, I was quite certain that Ranger was responsible for it's placement. Either that or I'm loosing my mind. At this point it was a toss-up.

Lula had also pulled out her glock, so we both headed in carefully. What we didn't find, after checking under the bed and behind the shower curtain, were any potential bad guys. What we did find, which was equally as spooky, was a beautifully wrapped gift box on the coffee table.

"Don't suppose that Batman just decided to get you a present and then forgot to shut the door, do you?"

I gave Lula a look. Not only was I pretty sure that the gift was not from Ranger, I couldn't imagine him ever forgetting anything, let alone a little thing like shutting or locking a door to a place he had broken into. The guy's Batman for heaven's sake.

"No, guess not," she mumbled.

I, however, knew exactly who this gift was from. Same place the gun-sized bruise on the back of my head was from. Common sense told me to call the cops, or a least to call Ranger. But since I hadn't told Joe or Eddie or anyone else about the other gifts, I ruled out that option. And all the other gifts had been benign (apart from the bruise), so I wasn't overly worried. Besides, it was pretty.

"Doesn't sound like a bomb, doesn't smell like dead body parts…I say it's safe to open."

"Good enough for me," Lula replied, scooping up the kitten and sitting down on the couch.

I sat down next to her and began pulling off ribbon. Despite my bravado about the prettiness of the wrapping, I had to admit that I was a bit nervous.

"Wanna call Batman to come over and open it?" Lula asked, noticing my hesitation.

"No, I'm a big girl," I said, ripping ribbon in earnest now.

What I revealed when I finally got it open caused us both to go speechless. It was a bottle of Dolce Vita. A note under it just said 'Sorry about last night.'

"Maybe it's from supercop"

"Nah, we broke up yesterday, and he walked in this morning to see Ranger in a towel. I'm pretty sure he's pissed."

Oh shit, I said that out loud, I realized, as Lula jumped off the couch screeching, the forgotten kitten in her lap falling onto the floor.

"You what? You broke up with the cop, and slept with Ranger, and you didn't say anything?"

By now she had reached ear shattering level, and was waving her arms around in grand fashion. "Lula!" I screamed, trying to get her to shut up long enough to explain. I had to try several times, jumping up and down myself, trying to catch her arms to make her stand still. God, we made a pair.

"It wasn't like that," I explained, when I finally had her calm enough to listen to me. "He just slept here because I had a concussion and wasn't supposed to go to sleep. We didn't do anything!"

"Oh." Lula said, sitting back down. Then she squinted up at me. "You saying you slept in the same bed as Batman and you didn't do nothing?"

"Yeah." Come to think of it, I do that a lot. Maybe I have more self-control than I realized. Or more than likely, he did, and I was just crazy. I think we all knew how much self control I had, considering the number of boston crème's I had ingested in the past 24 hours.

"You're crazy, that's what. Wait, how'd you get a concussion, and why'd you break up with the cop? Though it's about damn time, I say."

"Yeah, it was time. He said some things last night, about my job and Ranger, and I realized I didn't want to be treated like that anymore. So I left. Oh, and I was apparently pistol-whipped."

Her eyes widened at that fact.

"Is the perfume from the pistol-whipping dude? How'd he know you wear Dolce Vita?"

"Yeah, probably, it was from that guy. And I don't even want to know how he knew what kind to buy. Probably I should call Ranger."

"Yeah."

I picked up my phone and dialed.

"Yo." 

"Hey, I got another gift from our friend Jimmy. This one just as a note that says 'sorry'."

"Sure it's not from Joe?" he asked, no expression in his voice.

"I'm sure."

"Ok. I'm on a stake-out, so it'll be a few minutes before I can get there." 

"No, don't bother. Lula's here, and we checked for bad guys. There's no need to rush over here." Well, that and the fact that I was pretty sure that he was unhappy with me. Not sure why, but he had been being weird all day since he had walked in on Joe and I fighting this morning.

"Ok, I'll stop by after I get off, around 10."

"Ok, see you later then" I said. To dead air, of course. Someday….

"He'll come check it out later," I said to Lula. "Wanna find the cat stuff and get out of here?"

"Yeah, it's creepy in here knowing that some crazy guy was in here. Not that I'm scared or anything, but the kitten here seems a little put out by it."

Uh huh.

We found the old litter box and cat toys, and headed back to the office. My attempts at a cat had gone sadly wrong, so the supplies were like new. And I had forgotten earlier that I still wanted to use Connie to get the jump on the Burg grapevine. Now that I had accidentally spilled to Lula, I needed to hurry. Or at least keep her with me until I talked to Connie. I felt a little bad using my friends this way, but as much gossip fodder as they get from me, I didn't feel too badly.

We went back to the office, and I explained the whole thing to Connie, this time leaving out Ranger in his towel. I also omitted the wire the night before. I was pretty sure that neither Joe or the Merry Men were going to spill that little juicy piece of information. At least I sure hoped not.

Connie got on the phone immediately, and I turned mine off again, knowing what was coming. I probably should have used Mary Lou for this, I realized belatedly, but I was quite sure that I would soon have new gossip to impart, and I could dish to her fist then. Probably real soon, they way my life was going.

Satisfied that I had gotten the jump on the gossip, I headed to Pino's to pick up dinner before word spread there, and headed home. I turned off my home phone as well, and settled in for an evening of blissful silence.

An hour later, three quarters of the way through my pizza and well into Ghostbusters, my door was violently kicked down. I screamed, jumping off the couch, as Lester and Bobby both burst through the door.

Lester took off through the apartment, in full swat mode, as Bobby rushed over to me, frantically patting his hands all over my body. He better have been checking for gun shot wounds and not trying to feel me up.

"What the hell is going on?" I screeched, pushing Bobby's still-groping hands off me.

"Ranger couldn't reach you by your cell or home phone. With Clark already being in your apartment once today, and the attack last night, he thought Clark might have gotten you."

"Shit. I'm sorry. I was just trying to avoid phone calls." Probably should have thought to let Ranger know that, considering the stalker situation. This is probably what he was talking about last night, about always knowing what the other person is doing. Opps.

Lester was already talking to Ranger on the phone, having called him while Bobby was explaining the situation to me. Lester handed me his phone.

"Yo" I said.

"Babe. Next time will you warn me when you decide to hide?"

"Sure. Sorry. Joe and my's breakup hit the gossip mill, so I was trying to avoid my mother and, well, and really everyone else too."

"I'll send someone to replace door, and bring you a phone that only I have the number for, so you can leave yours off."

Wow, that was really nice of him. It's not like I don't have caller ID and couldn't screen my calls. This way is better though.

Lester and Bobby, who apparently didn't feel nearly as embarrassed at the whole 'kicking the door down in full panic mode' thing as I did sat with me to finish Ghostbusters. Guess they thought I need the protection. Good thing since they were the whole reason I couldn't just lock myself in.

"Hey Bombshell, you got any food in here?" Two guesses as to who asked and who was nodding along.

Laughing, I got up and found some beer and popped some popcorn for the three of us. I plopped back down on the couch between them, after switching the movie to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I loved it for the humor. They, however, spent the next two hours explaining what was inaccurate about each assassination scene. I, personally, was little creeped out that they knew so much about how to make a hit look like an accident.

"So Bombshell, you and the cop really break up?" Lester asked me as soon as the movie was over, leering a bit. Bobby slapped him on the back of the head from the other side of the couch.

"Yeah, we broke up." 

"You gonna hook up with the boss?"

I looked quickly at Lester, as Bobby slapped him again.

"Leave her alone, Les."

"No, Lester, I'm not hooking up with your boss, and leave me alone" I said, elbowing him in the gut. I'm entirely positive that I did not hurt him, but he grunted and held his side in mock agony.

"Well, you and Ranger better hurry up and figure it out fast, cause the rest of us wanna ask you out after you turn him down."

I cracked up laughing. I was pretty sure that there was not a long list of Merry Men just desperately waiting for me to be single. "You guys know how to make a girl feel better" I said, resting my head on Lester's shoulder. Ten minutes into the next movie, I fell asleep. Ranger found the three of us like that sometime later, when he appeared with Hal to fix the door.

I awoke to Ranger gently stroking my cheek, and Lester still leering at me from his place beside me. Ranger finally noticed his expression and glared at him. "Get up, Santos" he said, as he took his place on the couch "Wake up, Babe, I brought you a new phone." I smiled up at him. "Wait here. I'm gonna make sure the door is fixed and get these goons out of here."

Ten minutes later he was back. He scooped me up of the couch, sat back down with me on his lap, and leaned down to kiss me. Oh boy.

---------------------------------------------------------

_So I need a very Lula-esque name for the kitten, and can't think of one. Any ideas? _

_Please do review if you can!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking back later, I'm not sure I could tell you what I had been expecting of the evening, or where it went so terribly wrong. Actually, what I had really expected was my mother breaking down my door after hearing about Joe and I. Instead it was Lester and Bobby. But it had made for an enjoyable evening, leering aside. Ranger had warned me that he would stop by, but the way he had been acting all day, I figured he would just stop by and then leave. All in all, I figured it would be a quiet night. And I'm still not entirely sure where I went wrong. Probably it was this first kiss. Probably I should have stopped him right then. Maybe all of this could have been avoided. At the time though, it was a very enjoyable kiss, and this man can persuade me to do almost anything.

He pulled back from the kiss to smile at me.

"Feel better?" he asked. I just nodded.

"Wanna show me the most recent gift from Clark?"

Ugg. I forgot that's why he's here. Trying to get control over my raging hormones, I got up from my place on Ranger's lap, and headed for the kitchen where I had shoved Jimmy's gift. Out of sight, out of mind, right? I handed Ranger the box and the card, and watched as he inspected them both, blank face intact.

"He knew what perfume you wear."

"Nah, I think it was just a coincidence. It's a common brand. So maybe he just thought it would be a nice gift."

"Babe."

What? It could easily have been a coincidence. "Well, it could have happened. It doesn't necessarily mean he was stalking me." 

"Were you wearing it on the distraction job last night?"

"Um, no." I said, trying to remember. "I had dressed all girly, so I put on slut perfume to mix it up."

"That's not good. Means he either looked around one of the times he was in here, or he's been closer to you than he thought."

"Wonder why he apologized."

"Probably, he has moments of lucidity where he realizes you're not actually an enemy trying to capture him and regrets what he did to you."

"Well," I said cheerily. "That's good, at least we know that if he hurts me he'll be sorry."

Ranger just gave me a look. "Somehow, his level of regret is not going to help me if I find you chopped up into little pieces."

Batman just made a joke. Sure it was entirely morbid and vaguely inappropriate, but it was a joke. At any rate, I wasn't really eager to anticipate having my limbs severed from my body. I may complain about being fat from time to time, but overall I did prefer each part of my body firmly attached. Really not the way to loose weight.

"So," Ranger started, changing the subject from my upcoming demise. "Tank had an interesting story this afternoon. Seems he's inherited a certain violated kitty."

I gave him my best innocent smile. "Oh, did he? Wonder how Tank got him?"

Ranger just gave me his best intimidating look. I probably should have been scared, but I couldn't help remembering how cute he looked with the kitten attached to this shirt.

"What?" I finally asked. "He liked Lula better than he liked me, and Lula figured that Tank would enjoy a pet. And besides, he liked you so much, I figured he would like Tank. He seems to have a thing for large men wearing black."

Ranger just kept glaring. "Yeah, well now Tank can't seem to get rid of the damn thing."

"Ahhh! That's so cute! I should have Lula get me pictures."

"Tank knows an awful lot of ways to hurt people, Babe. I'd watch my back for while if I were you."

I grinned cheekily. Tank would never hurt me, I was sure. At least I didn't think he would. I mean, I had gotten the man's leg broken, and he didn't blink. Surely a little thing like a kitten wouldn't bother him.

"So, you're coming back to Haywood with me," Ranger said, changing the subject again. I was going to get whiplash listening to him tonight at the rate this conversation was going.

"Um, what? No! Why?" Yes, I was sputtering at this point.

"Babe, the guy gave you a concussion, and then broke into to leave an apology gift. He's getting more bold. I'd feel more comfortable if you were staying somewhere secure. Especially after the scare you gave me this afternoon."

"Ok, first of all, I didn't scare you this afternoon. You jumped to conclusions. And besides, you don't get scared." He gave me a skeptical look at this, but let me continue. "Secondly, the guy waited until I left to break in, that has to count for something. I'm staying here unless something more drastic happens."

"You're not going to change your mind are you?"

"Nope. Not unless something else happens. I have no problem trying to stay safe, but I'm not going to give up my home just because he left me some perfume."

"Will you at least let me put a man on you now?"

I hesitated. I really hated being followed around.

"How about somebody ride with you to get skips?" he finally suggested, sensing that I was about to say no.

Well, that was at least awkward than having a huge black SUV following me around. "Yeah, I guess I can take somebody with me. At the very least, it'll make my captures go easier. But you'll be bleeding money again if you send somebody with me."

"It's fine, Babe, really. I'd much rather see you safe. Besides, my guys like hanging out with you. Apparently you're more fun to spend your day with than I am."

This earned him another cheeky grin. I had been on stake-outs with Ranger before, and I knew exactly how boring they could be. I was definitely more fun.

"Are you sure you won't come stay with me?"

"No, I'm fine here, seriously. If something else happens, I'll go then." 

"Fine. Then I'm staying here too, for tonight at least. I don't like the fact that he was already in here once today."

Whatever. As long as he's not dragging me to some safe house, I'd live.

"Besides, I like sleeping here. You climb all over me when I sleep here." His wolf grin appeared. "If you came with me, you'd at least have the option of the 4th floor. But we both know that neither of us is sleeping on the couch here. And we both know how frisky you get in your sleep."

This was said while he was stalking towards me slowly, until I was trapped by the living room wall. He leaned in closely, resting both hands above my head, against the wall, now looking me up and down with a sexy grin. The look in his dark, intense eyes and the heat from his body was almost overpowering. He leaned forward even more, until the space between us was paper thin. If I took a deep breath, our bodies would be pressed together from waist to chest.

I was finding it hard to breathe at all. Any attempt for air was shallow and hitched, and I could feel my face heating up under his scrutiny. His wolf grin had faded; all amusement had. He was searching my eyes for something, but I had no idea what. After what seemed like hours, he slid his hands down to grasp my waist tightly, and leaned forward until there was no space at all between us, resting his forehead on mine. Slowly, he started pressing small, light kisses on my forehead, my cheeks, my chin; at the same time he slid his knee between my thighs. As his lips started to slide along my jaw, I stopped breathing entirely. Had his knee not been holding me up, I would have hit the floor. As it was, I ran my hands up his chest and around his neck to hold on.

Stopping to search my eyes once again, he finally leaned forward and kissed my lips, still unbelievably tender. I moaned, deep in my throat, as he squeezed my hips tighter, pulling me even closer too him, if that were possible, deepening the kiss.

I was quickly loosing any ability to think at all. I knew, however, deep in my heart, where this was going. And I knew that it was a very, very bad idea. I had broken up with Joe exactly 24 hours ago. And while I knew that it had been the right thing to do, and that I loved Ranger, I also knew that I could never settle for what he was offering.

And even more than that, I knew that if I didn't put a stop to this right this second, I was never going to be able to. As it was, it took every ounce of willpower I had to move my hands to his face, and gently pull us apart.

I wasn't sure what he would be able to read in my expression as he pulled back to look at me, but I could already feel the tears starting to pool in my eyes.

"We shouldn't do this," I whispered.

"You don't want this," he asked, in the softest voice imaginable, while leaning in to kiss along my jaw line again.

"Uugghhn" So much for my carefully planned speech about not wanting causal sex. At this rate, I'd be lucky to get out with my sanity.

When his lips made it back to mine, I couldn't even help kissing him back. The terrible, heavy feeling in my heart finally forced me.

"Stop," I finally managed to faintly choke out.

Ranger immediately leaned his head back in inch, and moved his hands from my waist back up to the wall, boxing me in. I couldn't just walk away into my bedroom. I was going to have to stand here and explain this, and I had no idea how to do that without admitting my feelings for him. On the bright side, he didn't look angry yet, just curious.

"What's going on, Steph?" 

"I just….I think this is a bad idea. Please don't ask me to sleep with you. I can't."

"Why? I thought you said you and Morelli were done."

"I am done. But we just broke up yesterday. And just because I'm done with him doesn't mean I'm going to automatically fall into bed with you."

Crap. Now he was starting to look pissed. He took a step backwards.

"So what, you're still feeling guilty?"

Ugg! Why couldn't he just let this go? I'd turned him down plenty of times before, and it never seemed to bother him. He has no right to be pissed here, and it was starting to piss me off too.

"This has nothing to do with Joe!" I said, my voice starting to go up a few notches. "I just don't think this is a good idea, that's all."

"Someday, babe, you're going to have to choose between me and Joe," he said, now taking several steps back, clearly angry. At his statement, though, I was fully enraged. 

"Choose! What choice is there? A guy who treats me like crap and wants to change me, or a guy who wants to fuck me. Well, guess what? I'm not choosing between the two of you, because I don't want either of those options. There will never be anything between you and me. You've made that very clear. You don't want me, or a relationship with me, no matter how I feel about it. Nothing stupid, remember? Nothing stupid like those pesky little commitments and rings. I can't choose between you and Joe, Ranger, because I don't get to make that choice! I am done with Joe, because I was settling for him, using him in place of what I really wanted. But like I said last night, that's a terrible reason to be with someone, especially given the way Joe treats me. And since I don't the option of choosing you, I'm content to just be alone for now."

"For now."

"Yeah, for now. Until I meet a guy who actually wants me! Who actually cares about me and likes me for myself!" By the time I had screeched out this last part, the tears were starting to fall.

"So you don't want me."

"God, Ranger, of course I want you! But I won't settle for casual sex, for being your 'entertainment,' just like I won't settle for a bad relationship with Joe. What I want is an actual relationship with you, you know, one where we talk, and share things, and do things together. Go out, and eat breakfast together, and share a fucking bathroom." I said, gesturing around my apartment. I stopped ranting a looked at him. His blank face was completely intact, just staring at me. God, did I just tell Ranger that I wanted a relationship with him? That probably wasn't the smartest thing I'd ever done. Maybe I should go pack for an emergency visit to Angola.

Shit. I sank down onto the couch and put my head on my knees. Guess if I had already been disturbingly honest, it should just continue at this point. I'd already gone farther than I meant to anyway, certainly too far to be able to take it back now.

"I won't sleep with you, Ranger," I said softly, sitting back up but not making eye contact with him. "I can't. I get that you don't want a relationship with me, but I won't do causal sex. I certainly won't do the kind of sex where you just leave like you did last time. And this time, you don't have anybody to send me back to."

That last part came out a little more bitter than I had intended. Oh well, he deserved to know how badly he had hurt me. I finally chanced a look at him. Still that blank face.

"You know you can pressure me into just about anything. If you even remotely put some effort into it, you know I'll cave. So please don't ask me to sleep with you. Because I would, and then I'd have to hate myself for falling for it again. And I'd have to hate you for pushing me into it. And I really, _really_ don't want to hate you." That last part came out as barely a whisper through the tears.

Still no reaction. Great, he doesn't care in the least.

"Last time, when you sent me back to Joe, you broke my heart, Ranger. I won't let you do it again," I continued, the tears really coming now. Still no reaction.

"Don't you care at all?"

Nothing. Absolutely no reaction. Not the slightest change in his expression.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You don't give a shit." I was close to losing it now, and I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing that.

"Get out."

I bolted for the bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind me, barely making it before I broke down completely. I sank onto the bed, curling up around a pillow to muffle the sobs. I couldn't hear any movement from the living room, but with Ranger that didn't mean much.

God, I'm so stupid. Not only did I just order Batman out of personal space, I pretty much laid it all out on the table. I told him he broke my heart? God, why did I have to say that? Worse than the fact that I just poured my heart out to him, something I had had no intention of ever doing, I had probably just ruined the best friendship I had ever been a part of. At this realization, I started crying even harder. Just as the sobs started to turn into choking, I heard the locks on the bedroom door click open.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I yanked the comforter over my head, really not wanting him to see me like this, and tried to control the gross, jerking sobs that were still coming out of me. With the covers over my head, I couldn't hear what he was doing. A second later, though, the blankets moved and he crawled in beside me, pulling me to him and wrapping both arms tightly around me.

Turning in his arms until I faced his chest, I immediately started pounding both fists against it. "What the fuck are you doing? I told you to get out! Get the fuck out!" I managed to yell between sobs.

"Just relax, babe," he whispered, capturing both my wrists with his hand. "Just go to sleep, babe. Please."

He pulled me tighter to him and started whispering in Spanish into my hair. I had no idea what he was saying, but the raw emotion I could hear thick in his voice slowly started calming me down. I was still crying, but the racking sobs had finally stopped.

I have no idea how long I cried, with him rubbing my back and whispering in Spanish, before I finally fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------

I realized I was alone the second I woke up, and immediately felt worse than I had the night before. I didn't cry though. Apparently the roller coaster of emotions over the past 48 hours had simply used up all the tears. Well, if that were the case, it would certainly be simplify matters.

I mulled through my next problem as I drug myself out of bed into the shower and through my morning routine. I had promised Ranger I would keep one of his men with me today. After everything that had happened the night before, my biggest worry was that I had ruined our friendship. And I had a suspicion that if I hadn't ruined it already, then ignoring my promise and going out alone today would take care of it. I didn't want to call him, but I also didn't want to call Tank and have to explain the whole thing.

As I munched on a pop-tart and fed a corner to Rex, I decided the mature thing to do was to just call him. If I wanted to fix this, I had to at least talk to him.

I took a deep breath and dialed.

"Yo Bombshell," I heard Tank's big voice bellow.

What the fuck? In all the years Ranger and I had worked together, never once had someone else answered his phone. I could hear a lot of noise in the background, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"Uh, hi Tank. Ranger wanted someone to go with me today to get skips. Um, is he there?"

"Yeah, he mentioned that. I thought I'd go with you today. Want me to pick you up?"

"Sure, I'm ready whenever."

"Okay, give me half an hour, I'll be there." He clicked off.

That was just bizarre. Was he really that mad at me that he wouldn't even answer his phone? I sank down onto the couch, staring into space. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation. Like maybe Tank happened to be in Ranger's office, and Ranger was in the middle of something. That could be it. Or in the bathroom. Wouldn't that be a funny story? I'm over here all worked up just cause he had to pee. Even Batman couldn't always answer his phone. Yeah, that had to be it.

Putting aside the crushing feeling in my chest, I trucked it to the bathroom to add some more mascara before Tank arrived. At the very least, my skips would come easy today. One look at Tank was usually all it took for them to handcuff themselves. It was a convenient trick, I must say.

Tank didn't say anything when I came down and climbed in his truck. Because I still had some files from the day before, we decided to go get them before heading to the bond's office.

Because of the late start to the day, by the time we had brought the first two skips to the police station, it was already noon. I didn't take much to talk Tank into going to Pino's for lunch.

---------------------------------------------------------

"So, wanna tell me what you did to put the boss is such a foul mood this morning?" he asked, once we had our food, shoveling pizza into his mouth.

"What _I _did?" I sputtered. "What _I_ did? What about what he did? I swear, that man is impossible. I didn't _do_ anything. He wanted me to sleep with him, I said no. At least this time wasn't payment. Or if it was, I don't know what I was paying for. Last time I at least knew what the fucking tab had added up to. And last time he mumbled an 'I gotta go, babe.' This time he was just gone when I woke up."

By now tears were starting to drip down my face (I deny that I was ever crying in Pino's while eating lunch with Tank, no matter what is currently being passed around the Burg grapevine). I really hadn't meant to pour my heart out to Tank of all people, and I certainly didn't mean for it to come out sounding nearly as bitter as it did, but he asked. His eyes had gotten progressively wider during my little rant, but at the word 'payment' he had actually started choking on his pizza.

"What? I thought you said you didn't sleep with him?"

"I didn't. I was screaming at him to get out. He laid down with me and let me cry, and when I woke up he was gone." Come to think of it, it was probably a really nice thing to do, minus the whole disappearing act at the end. Though I have no idea what I would have said to the man this morning.

'Oh. Wait, no. You guys have been together before?" he asked, probably shocked he hadn't already found out.

"Remember Eddie DeCooch?" When Tank nodded, I continued. "He told me that if he helped me bring in DeCooch, then I had to spend the night with him. And of course, DeCooch just couldn't be brought in by a girl. So I had to call Ranger, and he, being a man of his word (this was muttered sarcastically), collected on his deal."

"Not that I really objected," I added hastily, when Tank's eyes had gotten even wider. "I was all for it. I just wish he hadn't decided to end the evening by telling me to go back to Morelli. Though I guess it's good that I didn't have to hear _that_ lovely speech again this morning."

"Ahh. I remember that night. He made me take DeCooch to the hospital, and didn't show back up till the next day. Came back lookin happier than he had since he found out you were engaged to Morelli too."

At this point I thunked my head down on the table, the tears dripping again (still not crying). "It wasn't that night, he didn't 'collect' till a few months later" I said softly.

Tank stopped chewing, realizing the implication of what I said. Then he just shrugged. "Must of gotten happy some other way" he said non-committaly.

This pissed me off just enough for the tears to stop dripping. "You sit there and tell me slept with some other woman and just shrug!" I ask, slightly outraged (though knowing deep down I have no right to be).

"Stephanie, you were engaged to another man! And you don't even know for sure there was some other woman." Tank said, reinforcing that whole, I-have-no-right-to-be-mad-here feeling. "Not to be overly crass, but I'm pretty sure you been banging Morelli for a long time. All those nights that he had to drop you off at Morelli's house? Nuh uh, Bomber, you don't get to complain about another woman."

"Uggn, you're right," I replied, thunking my head back down onto the table, which I realized belatedly was pretty greasy and gross, and really not somewhere I wanted my head to be.

"If it makes you feel any better," Tank said, awkwardly patting the back of my head, since my face was still plastered to the table, "I haven't seen him with another woman since the whole Abruzzi mess. And he don't give cars to nobody else."

That had me smiling, since I was pretty sure that anybody else who blew up as many of his cars as I had would have a new permanent address in Bangladesh by now. And I felt even better, though slightly more vain and shallow, at the news that he probably hadn't slept with anyone else since me. Though that seemed like an awfully long time. Best not to think about the implications of that one.

"So, how do I get him in a better mood, since his foul one is clearly because of me?" I asked, optimistically trying to get relationship advice out of Tank (not that we were actually in a relationship – that was certainly made clear last night). I was pretty sure I had already used up Tank's allotment of words for the day, though his outrage over my immaturity probably added to his usually amount.

"Dunno, Bomber" he said, crushing my hopes for quick-Ranger-fix. "This whole mess is way deeper than I thought. He does love you, I can see that. But just case he's got it bad for you doesn't mean he knows what to do next. Just give him his space, let him work it out. He'll come around."

Huh. Guess this is one of those situations that requires my patience. I've never been too good at that. But good to know that even Batman gets confused now and then.

"So," Tank said, as we left Pino's and climbed back in his SUV. "Care to explain to me how exactly I came to have a cat attached to my shirt yesterday?"

Uh oh. "Uh, is this the part where I'm supposed to watch my back?"

"Yeah, Bomber. This is that point," Tank said, giving me his best intimidating look. I've gotten immune to Ranger, but Tank could still scare the stuffing out of me. I seriously had to discreetly check to see if I had wet myself, and started trying to stealthily slide my hand toward the door handle.

Tank bust out laughing, a huge, booming laugh. The shock of it made me jump a good six inches out of my seat, which only served to make him laugh harder. Of course, by now I had come to the relieving, if belated, realization that he was just messing with me. Hey, a man that large and scary could make anyone a bit slow on the uptake.

It took Tank a good five minutes to control his laughter. I was giving him my best Burg glare, but he was having none of that. I guess a big ex-military guy didn't scare near as easily as a little white girl who hid her gun in a cookie jar.

"It's okay, Bombshell," Tank sputtered when his laughter was mostly under control. "I kinda like the little bugger. But if you tell anyone about this….well, I have a reputation to uphold, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I think I got the point" I muttered dryly. So the guy could kill me in my sleep a hundred different ways, he still liked the little kitten. See, he was just a big softie deep down.

"Besides, Lula really likes the thing. Something about maternal instincts. As long as the thing doesn't live in my house, I can deal with it if it makes her happy."

See? He's a big softie. I grinned at him.

"I'm serious about you blabbing your big mouth about this, Stephanie."

Uh oh. We're on to first names now. Too bad I didn't know Tank's. I was quite sure his given name wasn't Tank. Though if it was, I'd be very interested to meet his mother. "Aye, aye, sir!" I said, snapping off a smart salute, and sitting up in the truck seat.

Tank just shook his head and turned back the road.

"So what's your real name, Tank?"

He just shot me a look and turned back to the road. Well, that was no fun. I thought through my arsenal of weapons, trying to come up with something that would make a guy like Tank talk. Nothing. Unless….

I stretched in my seat, my little black tee-shirt riding up dangerously. I continued stretching, making sure to point my chest out as far as it would go. Tank actually swerved. Success!

"If you do not start behaving right now I swear to God I will drive directly to your mother's house."

I instantly snapped back into my original posture. My mother may be the only person in the world I am more scared of than Tank. And if he was willing to risk facing my grandmother, than he must really be serious.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Tank muttered, seeing my instant dejection at my plan being foiled. I thought about whining, but one look at his face told me it wasn't going to get me anywhere. Too bad, really.

"Well, if you won't tell me, I'll just ask Lula or Ranger."

"Lula don't know either, little girl. No sense pestering her. And Ranger knows what'll happen if he tells."

I laughed softly. The conversation turning back to Ranger was enough to remind me of everything that was said the night before, which instantly burst my short-lived good mood.

Tank glanced at me and noticed the change in mood.

"He really does love you, Bombshell," he assured me softly.

"I don't know, Tank. He seemed to make it pretty clear last night that he doesn't. Or at least not enough to actually be in a relationship with me."

"Relationships are hard in this line of work, Bomber. Real hard. And what about you, are you really okay with him having to disappear without contact for weeks or months with no notice? Or him having to work all hours of the night. And there is the added risk that being with him implies."

"What do you mean, added risk?" 

"Bomber, Scrog targeted you because he thought you were in a relationship with Ranger. If you guys really are in a relationship, you'll be targeted more. And no offense, but by people a lot stronger and meaner than the psychos you pick up. You really think you'd be able to protect yourself from that?"

"Huh. Maybe that's what Ranger always means by not wanting me to get hurt."

"That man takes his responsibilities seriously. He's had people under him killed before, and he takes it hard, but he takes it even harder when you're in danger. You should have seen him those six hours when Stiva had you, or just before he went in for you and Julie. And that was just with you guys being friends. Can you image how he would have reacted if you guys were together? You've put that man through a lot, Bomber. He never knows what you'll do next or if he'll even be able to protect you. It's a lot to put on a man you want to be in a relationship with."

Wow. That seemed strangely reminiscent of the conversation I had had with Ranger two nights ago, when said I was an 'unknown.' Though Ranger had managed to be a bit nicer about it. Tank didn't bother to spare my feelings.

I sat back in my seat to think, as Tank drove towards the bonds office. Tank did raise some good points. I was pretty sure that my lack of training and my complete inability to follow orders was not the entire reason that Ranger didn't want a relationship with me, but it certainly seemed to be a contributing factor.

And as much as I'm sure I love Ranger, I have to admit that I hadn't really thought through the practicalities of being in a real relationship with him. He always dropped everything and came to my rescue when I needed it, but I had no idea what he actually did with his day. And all those times he was 'in the wind,' he didn't have much warning, I'm sure. And sometimes he was gone for months. Would I really be okay with that? It bothered me when Joe ran off for under-cover work; would it really be any different with Ranger? Could I stand to wait, and wonder, and worry, without any way to contact him? That wasn't a pleasant thought.

My thoughts finally came to a grounding halt as we pulled up in front of the office. Good thing too. Much more of introspection that deep and I might actually combust. We passed the 'smell of something burning' quite a while ago. Maybe the real answer was just to hook up with an accountant. Someone with a 9-5 job. But accountant guys are not nearly so interesting as a guy like Ranger. Therein lies the problem, right?

I was still lost in my tumultuous thoughts as we walked into the office. I did, however, catch a blur of something red fly past me. When I finally shook myself out of my stupor and stopped blinking, I realized there was a bright red cat clinging to Tank's shirt.

Wait, red? No, that wasn't a red cat. That was a black and white cat in a red pleather cape.

A cape?

My eyes huge, I swung to Lula, who I was quite sure was the only person here who could offer any semblance of an explanation.

"A cape? You put the cat in a cape?"

"Yeah I did. He needed a costume."

"Um, why?" I finally sputtered out.

"Well, we named him Flash. You know, to round out the Justice League. So he needed a cape and a mask. See, we have Batman and Wonder Woman. Well, now we have ghd Flash, on account of how fast and brave he is. Now we just gotta pick names for the rest of us. We need a superman."

"Ranger's superman," I said without thinking.

"Thought he was Batman?"

"Yeah, well sometimes he's both," I answered, my face turning red.

Lula looked confused, but Tank burst out laughing. "You know he's used that line on other women, right?" he sputtered out, still laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sure."

Connie and Lula still looked a bit befuddled, but I wasn't about to enlighten them. I'm sure Lula would worm it out of Tank pretty quick, who would tell Connie….looks like I'm going to be avoiding the office for a couple days.

I leaned over to pick up The Flash, who Tank had dropped from laughing so hard. I held him up to my face and my jaw dropped. 'Oh my god, you actually did put a mask on him!" He had a tiny, red pleather mask with eye holes strapped to his head.

"Well, of course I did. I think he likes it," Lula answered. Now we just need to decide who's gonna be Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. I'm thinking that since Tank don't wanna be Robin, then he should be the Martian Manhunter, seeing as how he's like a mini Superman. And if you say that Ranger's Superman…."

This could take a while. I didn't want to know how Lula and Connie were going to divvy up Aquaman and Green Lantern. There really should be more female superheroines.

"Wait, wasn't there some old group, 'Birds of Prey' or something, that were in Gotham City with Batman?" I asked. I vaguely remembered the cartoons. "Yeah, Connie could be Oracle since she's the computer guru of the office, and Lula can be Black Canary cause of the fishnets and spandex and screaming abilities."

"Ohh, Black Canary. I remember her. Yeah, I'd make a kick-ass Black Canary! Wanna hear me scream?"

Lula opened her mouth wide and sucked in air to imitate Black Canary's ultrasonic and incapacitating scream. Luckily Tank caught on quick and slapped a hand over her mouth as the rest of us were diving for the door.

In the midst of all the commotion, I had managed to grab our new files, so I just waited for Tank outside. Finally, he sauntered out grinning, and we climbed in the truck to track down a few more degenerates.

I was right about how helpful Tank would be. Everywhere we went, people seemed very willing to turn themselves in. I'm sure if we had been going after Tank's skips instead of my low-level ones the day would have wrapped up quite differently; but as it was, he was dropping me off at my apartment by four.

"Hey," I started to ask, my curiosity finally getting the better of me. "How come you answered Ranger's phone this morning? Was he busy or something?"

"Or something, all right. He was beating the shit out of Lester in sparring practice."

"Oh," I said, feeling terrible for Lester. That would explain all the noise I heard in the background.

"Don't worry, Bombshell, Santos was fighting back. It's good for them. Relieves stress."

I could think of a plethora of better ways to relieve stress. But then again, I guess that bubble baths and pedicures just don't cut it for these guys. Although that would really be fun to watch.

"I'll send Bobby over tomorrow morning to get you and stick with you for the day. Lester will probably be here the next day."

"Okay, thanks for you help today. Bye," I said, getting out of the car.

Four hours later, I was sitting on my couch with Ben and Jerry, staring at my phone. Part of me wanted to call and apologize for everything I said last night, and part of me thought it was simply time it got said. But I was still terrified at the thought of ruining our friendship. Mulling it over, I remembered that Tank had told me to give him space. It was the opposite of my instincts, but look where those had gotten me. I figured maybe Tank was right, and I should just give it a couple days. That, though, got me thinking about all the other things Tank had said, and how he was probably right about those too.

I'm sure I did need training, as much as I hated the thought. Tank had flat out said it, Joe had screamed it, and Ranger had told me several times. But I knew Ranger would never force me. I refused to change my life or myself for Joe, and I wouldn't for Ranger either. But this, this would be good for me, up my confidence, get me better at my job. Maybe Tank was right about this bringing Ranger around, and maybe he wasn't. But it was high time I started making decisions for myself, instead of worrying about Ranger's reaction. This training, this could be something that was all for me.

Smiling, I picked up the phone and dialed Tank.

"Hey," I said when he answered. "Do you think you and guys could help me get some training without Ranger finding out about it?"


	11. Chapter 11

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------

Seriously, what had I been thinking? Training? Me? At this point, I would rather be attached by a pack of rabid dogs. Wait, that had happened to me before. No, no, now I remember, those were randy dogs.

Training is complete bullshit. Oh it started out all right. Sneaky, that. Tank had told me when I called him that the guys would help me with my skips in the mornings and then train me in the afternoons. Since Ranger was already expecting them to be with me for the day, then he would never suspect a thing. Today, Bobby taught me how to pick up a tail when driving. Tomorrow, Lester is going to teach me how to pick a lock. About damn time for that, if you ask me. I'm ready.

That part of the training was fine. Even fun. Lester and Bobby were great about turning it into a raucously swell time.

No, my issue was with Tank. Tank decided that he'll take care of the physical part of the training. That man was in my apartment – in my bedroom! – at 5:00 this morning. And he made me run. Then he took me to a gym and made me beat a punching bag. One guess as to whose face I was envisioning on that bag. At least when Ranger makes me run, I can run behind him and enjoy his ass. No offense to Tank or anything, but his ass isn't anywhere in the same league as Ranger's.

And he'll be back tomorrow.

Thinking up any possible way I had to incapacitate Tank, I sat in a tub of bubbles and epson salt, hoping I'd be able to walk tomorrow. I had a sinking suspicion it was a lost cause (either walking or stopping Tank). I decided to sleep with my gun under my pillow tonight, in case I didn't feel like running in the morning and Tank didn't get the hint. Not that I'd every purposely hurt Tank. He was a great guy, and I'd have Lula to answer to. But at 5 am, no one could really hold me responsible for my actions.

-------------------------------------------------

Sure enough, I awake at 5:03 to Tank cursing loudly while stumbling over all the pots and pans I had left in the hallway. It was an accident, I swear! They just fell out of the cabinets.

Laughing, I dashed out of the bedroom, just to see the look on his face. Waking up was way better this way. This was almost as good as donuts. I grabbed workout clothes and got changed while Tank continued to shoot me murderous glances.

After an hour of running and another hour working out at the gym, I was using some murderous glances of my own. Luckily, Tank had learned the lesson of the morning, and stopped at Tasty Pastry on the way back to my apartment. He dropped me off, letting me know that Lester would be by in an hour to help with my skips.

I hadn't had any further messages/gifts from Jimmy Clark, so I wasn't entirely sure it was necessary to keep a man with me, but I figured I'd keep it up until Ranger told me otherwise. Of course that would require him talking to me….but let's not go there. That's way to depressing a thought.

-----------------------------------------------------

Lester showed up promptly at nine to chauffeur me around for an eventful morning of catching skips. Well, that was the plan at least. What is it about me that makes even the best laid pans go terribly awry.

We had been inside the Bond's office for exactly 2 minutes when I noticed my wrists were all itchy. Another 30 seconds and I realized there was a burning sensation behind my ears. Very weird. I dismissed it and tried to concentrate on what Connie was telling me about my newest files.

Another minute later, and Lester noticed I was scratching my wrists and wiggling around.

"You okay, Bomber?"

"Yeah, my wrists just itch is all," I answered, holding my wrists to show him the two angry red splotches.

"Anywhere else?"

"Yeah, behind my ears kind of itches too. Very weird. Maybe it's allergies or something. Maybe I'm allergic to the Flash."

Lester grinned at the mention of the kitten who had adopted Tank, but whipped out his cell to call Bobby. As he was explaining the weird itching to Bobby, Vinnie stuck his head out of his office.

"You didn't spray on any poisoned perfume, did you?" Vinnie asked, sneering. Clearly a unfortunate attempt to make a joke.

Connie laughed, but Lester, Lula, and I froze.

Lester swung his gaze from Vinnie to me. "Tell me you didn't actually put on that perfume, Bomber."

"Well, it's expensive perfume, and it was a big bottle."

"What? You sprayed that shit on yourself? Girl you're not nearly as smart as I thought. You don't wear a gift left by some dude that pistol-whipped you!" Lula screeched, jumping off the couch. Connie and Vinnie just looked thunder-struck.

"She put on the perfume Clark left in her apartment. I think she's having some kind of reaction. I'm bringing her to the office now" I heard Lester bark into his phone. He grabbed my elbow and started dragging me to the door. I figured Lula could explain everything and followed him.

Lester drove at break-neck speed back to Haywood Street, and squealed the tires trying to park in the garage. Bobby was right there waiting for us, and immediately flung open the door and grabbed both my wrists. He looked immediately relieved when he saw the splotches.

"This isn't so bad, just a mild allergic reaction. Put some hydrocortisone cream on it and stop scratching and it'll be fine. And don't wear the perfume any more!"

Yeah, pretty sure I got that last part. I'm not that slow on the uptake, thank you.

I followed Bobby and Lester upstairs to a small medical room off the gym. Bobby smeared some stuff on my wrists and wrapped them in gauze. He smeared some more behind my ears, but left that are uncovered. Not that there was really an easy way to cover it. Lester, back on the phone, turned to me.

"Hal's in your apartment now, which bottle is it?"

"Oh, um, it's the one on my dresser." My other bottle, the unpoisoned one, was in the bathroom. Geez, only I could manage to poison myself with perfume.

"Uh, guys, do you think we can just keep this among ourselves? I mean, there's no reason really to tell anyone."

Lester grinned at me unrepentantly. "No can do, Bomber, the whole building knows already. Hell, the Boston and Miami offices probably know by now. But don't worry," he added quickly, seeing my look of utter mortification, "I'm sure no one in the Burg will find out."

Well, I guess that was better. Ranger would surely find out, but my mother wouldn't. I'd never live that down.

"So, as long as I don't scratch or use the perfume again, I'm good to go?" I asked Bobby.

"Yeah, Bomber, you're good. And don't worry. I'm sure one of these meatheads will do something stupid soon and everybody will forget all about this."

I smiled at Bobby, grateful that he wasn't teasing me, and followed Lester back down to the garage. Thankfully, no one seemed to spot us, and we were able to escape unscathed from future teasing. The whole morning had taken longer than I thought, and it was already almost noon.

"So, do you wanna go back and get some files, and try to find some skips, or do you just want to jump straight into learning how to pick a lock?" Les asked as soon as we were back on the road.

"Ohh, lets go get some lunch, and then work on the lock-picking." I was really looking forward to this. I was tired of being the only person in Trenton who couldn't get into my apartment. This was a skill that could come in very handy.

"I like the way you think, Bombshell," Lester said grinning at me as the headed towards Big Jim's. Errant plans and allergic reactions aside, this was shaping up to be a decent day.

--------------------------------------------------------

We decided to tackle lock-picking at my apartment. We didn't want to go back to Haywood for obvious reasons, and we'd never get anything done at the Bond's Office. By four o'clock, I was well on my way to being a decent burglar. Lock picking, I decided, wasn't all that hard. It was just a matter of getting tension right, and knowing what you were feeling for. I didn't have it quite all down pat yet, but Lester assured me that I was well on my way.

He left late in the afternoon, giving me enough time to take a nap before going to dinner at my parents. I was dreading this with every ounce of my being. My mother had heard about the break-up, of course, and would be demanding an explanation.

Lester figured I'd be safe enough going straight there and back without him. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to avoid my grandmother. But he told me to call him when I left my parents, so he could meet me at the apartment and walk through it with me. Under no circumstances, I was forced to solemnly swear, would I enter the apartment alone.

Whatever. I was in no hurry to find another gift from Jimmy. Especially when that damn perfume bottle was the gift that just keeps on giving. My wrists still itched. I was going to have to wear very long sleeves tonight, or my mother was going to think I was suicidal seeing my wrists bandaged like this. Not that long sleeves in August in Jersey is subtle. I finally paired an off-the-shoulder long sleeved top with a short denim skirt and flat sandals, hoping it was just summery enough to fool my mother.

"Stephanie Plum, what's this I hear about you breaking up with Joseph, and why are you wearing long sleeves. It has to be at least a hundred degrees outside for goodness sakes!" my mother started, before I even got to the front door.

Damn, so close. Maybe if I ignore the long sleeves comment, she'll brush right past that to Joe, and forget all about it. As upset as she was about the fight with Joe, that might actually work.

"Mom, it's okay," I tried as I wiggled in the door past her and grandma, who at this point was just standing there taking it all in. "We agreed to break up because we simply want different things out of life." No need to mention the whole Ranger-in-a-towel thing, right?

"What do you mean you want different things out of life. What things are there? Joseph has a good job and a nice house and can provide for you. What else is there to want?"

I just sighed. For a lot of other women, I'm sure she's right, that would be a perfect life, exactly enough. I and hoped for his sake that Joe found one of those girls. I, however, knew that I was not one of them.

"Oh, leave her alone, Ellen, the girl needs adventure. She needs more in her life than raising kids. I should now," Grandma said, winking at me. It was a comforting thought that someone got me, even if it was my crazy 90 year old grandma.

"I will not leave her alone, mother. The girl is over 30 years old. She needs to grow up and settle down. Marrying Joseph would be good for her…" she trailed off as she wandered down the hall into the kitchen, headed directly for the Johnny Walker, I'm sure.

"So…what really happened with Joe? Did you run over him again? I need the real story to tell the girls at Clara's."

"No, Grandma, I didn't run over him." Though it had crossed my mind. It was so effective last time. "We just got into a fight. The same fight really. He wanted me to quit my job, and I didn't want to. So we broke up."

"Damn. Maybe I could make up something about you running him over for the girls."

See, this is how it happens, this is how these stories about me get so out-of-control. I tried to resist the urge to bang my head against the wall, and headed to the living room to say hello to my father.

The cacophony that greeting me was impressive. My father had the ball game on TV turned up….way up. I don't know how I didn't hear the announcers outside. Lisa was lying on the floor on a blanket, screaming her lungs out. Mary Alice was draped all over my dad, who was trying valiantly to see the game around her, and Angie was sitting primly on the couch, talking to whoever would listen about the strategy of the order of batters. I couldn't see Val, but Albert was sitting by Angie on the couch, watching Lisa scream, and sweating.

Grandma and I just stood in the doorway watching the scene before us. No one noticed my presence. Finally, my father, in more movement than I had ever seen from him, stood up, plunked Mary Alice into his recliner, scooped Lisa off the floor, and dropped her unceremoniously into my arms.

The kid instantly stopped screaming and stared up at me. I looked at my father in shock. He's probably the only person here who would trust me with a small child. He just smiled and walked into the dining room to claim his spot and his food.

About that time Lisa, who I was still holding out in front of me, started screaming again. I guess staring at me could only keep her entertained for so long. Val rushed in a grabbed her from me.

"Jeez, Steph, you have to hold her like this," Val said, cradling Lisa to her chest and popping her little finger into Lisa's mouth. Eww, I don't want some kid sucking on my finger. But amazingly, she instantly stopped screaming. Still, there had to be germs involved in that.

We all trooped into the dining room and claimed places. I was between Grandma and Mary Alice, with Albert across from me, still sweating. Luckily, he seemed quiet tonight.

The first half of dinner progressed in relative silence. One guess as to who ruined the peace.

"So Stephanie, are you going to hook up with that bounty hunter with the nice package now?"

Before I could stop choking long enough to set Grandma straight, Mary Alice chimed in.

"Is it a present? Is it his birthday?"

We all stared at her for a second.

"You said he had a nice package. Is the package a birthday present? I like birthday presents. Do horses have the same number of birthdays as people? Cause dogs have way more birthdays than people. Do you know Aunt Stephanie?"

"Uh, um….I think they have the same number of birthdays." What the hell do I know about horses? But she seemed satisfied, and dropped the issue of Ranger's package, thank god. Grandma nudged me with her elbow, grinning. My mother just glared at me. I could see my father's mouth moving as he muttered into his potatoes, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I'm quite sure it was nothing flattering about anyone at the table.

Just as I thought that silence was going to descend once again, I heard a shattering sound outside. We all jumped up and ran for the front door, except my father, who took the opportunity to grab more potatoes.

Grandma beat us all to the door, and started screaming, "Hey, that's Stephanie's car!"

Oh shit, this couldn't be good.

Sure enough, there was Jimmy Clark, smashing my car with a baseball bat. What is it with this guy and baseball bats.

"Call the police," I shouted back into the house from my place on the porch, to no one in particular. I wasn't sure what to do. This guy was clearly dangerous, and I had my entire family behind me to think of. From what Ranger said about him, I was afraid he could erupt at any point. Does beating my car count as an eruption? Or should I be waiting for worse? Maybe I should I should be waiting for the police.

But as I realized what he was doing next, I decided to forgo the police and ran towards him myself. "Hey!" I yelled, as he continued pouring kerosene all over the car. I lunged toward him, only to have him swing the gas can at me, covering me in kerosene at the same time. "Don't you dare do it, you idiot!" I screamed. Probably not the best to antagonize the guy, but I didn't have many options here. My gun was inside in my purse (I think), and my cuffs were at home.

Just then Jimmy pulled out a lighter and grinned at me. Fuck! I took off towards the house, not eager to be anywhere near that lighter in my current combustible state. Just as I reached my grandmother on the front step, the car went up into flames and Jimmy took off down the block. I watched him jump in a car, and ran inside to write down the license plate number, while my grandmother took off down the block. At least I got that much. It's more leads than I'd gotten in weeks.

As I stood there and watched my car burn, I saw a black SUV pull up. Lester angled out of it and walked up to us, laughing. "Damn, Bombshell, you were just supposed to come to dinner."

"It wasn't my fault. We were eating when Jimmy showed up. He smashed the car up a bit, and then covered it and me in kerosene, and lit it on fire. Luckily, I myself never caught fire. He took off, but I got the license plate number."

Lester gave me a serious look as he took the paper. "How'd he get close enough to get the kerosene on you?" he asked in that deceptively conversational tone that all the Merry Men use when they're actually pissed or worried. Could be either here.

"Um, I thought I could get him."

Lester raised his eyebrows at this, since I clearly wasn't carrying neither a gun or cuffs.

About that time, Grandma came running back towards the house, as fast as her little legs could carry her, her neon, velvet sweat suit snaking across the lawns. "Look!" she cried excitedly. "He left his bat when he got in his getaway car!"

She immediately started swinging the bat around, trying to imitate for Lester what Jimmy had been doing to the car. Lester and I both jumped out of her way, and told her to drop the bat. Just as she reared back again, Lester took a step in her direction.

"Grandma, no!" I yelled, right as the bat connected with the side of Lester's head. It was like one of those terrible slow-motion replays. I saw the bat hit, saw his head snap back with a dazed expression on his face. A second later, he landed on the lawn like a heap of potatoes.

Grandma and I both stood there staring down at him in shock. Dimly, I became aware of sirens approaching. Who knew Grandma could pack such a punch? It took a lot to knock out of the Merry Men – I knew, I had broken my fair share of them. 

"Oh my god, Lester!" I screamed, leaning down over Lester, finally snapping out of my shock-induced daze. Frantically, I started checking for a pulse while yelling his name.

Thankfully, I quickly felt his pulse, which was quite strong and very steady. His chest was rising and falling evenly. He was just unconscious. I turned toward my mother, who was still standing at the door, watching all this unfold in front of her. "Better call back and get an ambulance too," I called to her. Mutely, she nodded and turned back inside.

"Does he need CPR?" Grandma asked, leaning down to press her lips against Lester's open ones. He might forgive me for getting him knocked unconscious, but he would never forgive me for letting my grandma perform CPR on him.

"No Grandma, he's okay," I returned, helping her stand back up so there could be no accidental lip locking.

She looked up at me nervously. "I didn't kill him, did I?" she asked, now noticing the severity of the situation.

"No Grandma, he'll be fine. You just knocked him out. I know you didn't mean to," I said, patting her shoulder reassuringly. She looked back down at Lester fretfully as the first cop cars pulled in, followed almost immediately by the ambulance.

Eddie took one look at me, standing in between my smoldering car and an unconscious Lester and cracked up laughing. "Is he okay?" he asked, trying unsuccessfully to control his mirth while pointing at Lester.

"He has a pulse and is breathing, so I guess so." I said as the paramedics hurried over. They quickly loaded him into the ambulance. I started to climb in, but Eddie stopped me.

"Why don't you call Ranger and have him head to the hospital. I need to get your statement." Good idea, if Ranger would answer his phone. I nodded to Eddie and called Tank. I just told him that Lester was unconscious, and could he please go to the hospital. He actually laughed. One of his best friends is currently out cold, and he laughs at me.

About that time, Joe pulled up, and Grandma went rushing over to him.

"Officer Morelli, I'm so glad you're here. It was the craziest thing. This guy just showed up and poured gasoline all over Stephanie, and then her car exploded, and then I found his bat and I accidentally hit that nice young man in all black on the head. The ambulance just took him."

Joe just looked up at me in utter shock. "You killed one of Ranger's men?" he asked Grandma incredulously.

"No, no," I said quickly, jumping between them. "She accidentally hit Lester. He'll be fine, they just took him to the hospital to make sure." I left out that he was still currently unconscious. Joe would find out soon enough.

"Okay," Joe said on a sigh. "Mrs. Mazur, I'm going to take your statement, and Steph, Eddie is going to take yours."

Eddie grinned at me, and led me a little ways away from Joe and Grandma. I watched them nervously. There was no telling what Grandma might say.

"Okay, Steph, wanna start at the beginning?" Eddie asked me.

"Sure, yeah. Oh, Eddie, how'd the ambulance get here so fast? It got here the same time you did."

"Oh, they automatically dispatch an ambulance now when a call comes in about you. The dispatcher recognized the address and sent it, and called Rangeman."

That also explains how Lester got here so fast. The news, however, that the Trenton 911 dispatchers knew me so intimately spoke little for my career ambitions.

Sighing, I told the whole story to Eddie, who had already heard about the other 'gifts' from Jimmy. He hadn't heard about the perfume, however. I didn't even think twice before omitting that from my story. I wasn't sure if there was currently a betting pool for when I would poison myself, but I didn't want to chance it. Besides, Hal had taken the perfume, so it wasn't like I could give it to the cops anyway.

As I was finishing up with Eddie, I felt Joe grasp my elbow to get my attention.

"Cupcake, I really, really don't want to have to arrest your grandmother."

"Arrest her? Joe, it was an accident!"

Joe raised his eyebrows at that.

"Yeah, see, Grandma was excited about finding the bat, and she was swinging it around. Lester was trying to get it away from him, and walked right into it!"

I hated making it sound like it was Lester's fault, because clearly that was not the case. But I couldn't let Grandma go to jail. She's old! She would hate jail.

"It's okay Stephanie. He can arrest me. I don't mind spending the night in jail. It'll be a pip of a story to tell the girls."

My gaze swung around to my grandmother, who had joined the conversation. Only my grandmother would willingly go to jail for the gossip fodder it would provide.

"It's okay, Mrs. Mazur. I'll talk to Lester when he wakes up to make sure, but it seems like it was an accident."

I couldn't tell if Joe really believed that it was an accident, or if he just didn't want to be alone with my grandma long enough to take her to the station and book her. She might cause a riot in the women's cell. She, however, seemed disappointed.

"I'm going to go to the hospital and check on Lester," I finally said, trying to clear my mind of the image of my grandma in an orange jumpsuit.

"Okay, Cupcake. I'll meet you there to finish all this up and talk to Lester."

Luckily, my mom made grandma stay in the house, while I went to check on Lester. I wasn't sure Lester would be up to having her in his room right now, if he was even awake. Poor guy. I really hope he never found out about the near miss on the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Turns out I had to wait for Joe anyway. My poor Mini. It had lasted almost two months. I could have taken the Big Blue, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'd get it tomorrow if I needed it.

"Well cupcake," Joe said, as we headed for the hospital. "At least now we know where you get it."

"Yeah, though I'm pretty sure we knew that all along. You're not really going to arrest her are you?"

"No, not if it was really an accident. Though to hear her tell it, she had the whole thing planned out. I'm actually surprised a woman that size could knock out Santos. That must a been a hell of a swing."

I laughed. It was a hell of a swing, actually. The Mets would have been proud.

"Cupcake, about the other day…"

"Joe," I stopped him quickly. "Can we not do this right now. I'm worried about Lester, and I'm still going to have to deal with Tank when we get there."

Joe gave me a calculating look, but let it go. If he noticed that I said Tank instead of Ranger, he didn't mention it. For the first time since our fight, I was glad Ranger wasn't talking to me. I was pretty sure he'd be at the hospital, but hopefully I could get out of there fast.

Tank stood up when we walked into the ER waiting room.

"Only you could manage this, Bombshell," he said, laughing again. He came up and wrapped me in a huge hug. "You all right, little girl?"

"What the hell?" he quickly asked, taking a big step back. Oh, right, the kerosene I was covered in was now all over Tank.

"Uh, sorry. Some of the kerosene splashed on me. But I'm fine. How's Lester?"

"He's gonna be fine," Bobby answered, coming to join us, waving his hand in front of his nose to purge the fumes now radiating from Tank and I. "He woke up in the ambulance, muttering about little old ladies. They're doing some quick tests, but he should be able to go in another hour or so."

"Oh good, I was really worried." About the time I noticed the cool glances Joe was getting behind me from Tank and Bobby. "Joe needs to take Lester's statement when he's ready. He gave me a ride, since yet another of my cars was destroyed."

At this both men seemed to relax, and nodded at Joe. He nodded back, a weird male ESP going on. All three went and took a seat in the orange plastic chairs. I followed more slowly.

"Where's Ranger?" I asked, just now noticing his absence. I know he's mad at me, but I couldn't imagine him being so mad that he didn't show up when one of his core guys was hurt.

"Miami," Tank answered. He smiled softly at me, clearly being able to tell exactly what I had assumed. I was relieved that it wasn't me causing his absence. Though for all I know, he could have jumped on a plane to Miami to avoid me. That wasn't a pleasant thought.

Interrupting me from my thoughts, Lester appeared, looking only slightly worse for the wear. I jumped up and ran over to him, searching for any sign that he hated me.

"Hey Bomber, it's okay" he said, awkwardly patting my shoulder. "I'm going to have words with your Grandma, but I'm not mad at you."

Bobby and Tank laughed, hitting Les on the back.

"They letting you go man?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, I can go." 

"I need a statement before you go." Joe threw in.

"Detective Morelli, sure, I can give you a statement. Though I didn't see Clark light Steph's car. I didn't see much of anything."

"Yeah, but we need to know what happened with Mrs. Mazur."

Lester laughed. "Yeah, okay," he said, following Joe off to a ways to talk quietly.

I plopped back down with Bobby and Tank to wait. I needed a shower in the worst way, and I never did finish my dinner. We were missing dessert here. But I figured I could use the time to wrangle some info from Tank. He had been pretty talkative the past few days.

"Oh, I got Jimmy's license plate number, Lester has it. Did you find out what was in the perfume earlier?"

"It was just a basic allergen to cause a rash. It wouldn't have hurt you, no matter how much you sprayed on. It was clearly meant to just be more annoying than anything else," Bobby answered.

"This guy is weird. He's gone out of his way to stalk me, but aside from the pistol-whipping, he hasn't actually attempted to hurt me. Even that night behind the club, he could have killed me, but he didn't. He just knocked me out. And tonight, he lit my car on fire while I was inside. Rude, but it didn't harm me. Granted he looked at me creepy when he pulled out his lighter, but he didn't attempt to light me on fire."

"I'm not big on trying to figure out the motivations of psychos, Bomber. What I do know is that he's not stopping. The events have steadily been escalating this whole time. And even though you've stopped looking for him, he hasn't stopped chasing you. Which means he's not going to," Tank added helpfully.

"So we need to find him."

"Yeah, Bomber. I'm riding around with you tomorrow, what do you say we go back to searching for him."

Oh boy. That's the most exciting prospect I've had all day.

----------------------------------------

_I'm finding this fan fiction thing much harder than I expected. I'm really struggling with developing the plot and figuring out where to go. So I just want to say kudos to those of you who manage to develop these long stories all the time. It's hard work!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------

It had been five days since I talked to Ranger, three since my car exploded, and two since I had broken down and left him a stupid message. I had called him, thinking he had had enough space and would talk to me now. No such luck. I didn't know what to say when his voicemail picked up, so I just softly said, "Call me. Please."

Five days. I didn't think I had ever gone that long without talking to him except for those times he was 'in the wind.' The worst part was that 5 days of silence was enough for the nightmares to come back. I had them after the whole Scrog mess, but I had spent enough time at the hospital with Ranger that they went away pretty quickly. But now, facing the idea that I may have lost him, just as surely as I would have if Scrog had killed him, they were back. The fact that this time if I lost him it would be my own damn fault was killing me. I was struggling to sleep at all – if it hadn't been for this training, and my sheer exhaustion at the end of each day, I probably wouldn't have.

I had circled around in bodyguard duty, and today was Lester's day again. Five days now of having bodyguards. I would have said that it wasn't necessary, but after Jimmy destroyed my car and almost lit me on fire in the process, maybe it was necessary. I had no idea what to expect next, but my spidey-sense was telling me that whatever it was was coming soon. That alone was enough to stop me from complaining about the bodyguard detail. And at the very least, it told me that Ranger didn't hate me entirely if he was still paying his men to protect me. He apparently didn't want me severed limb by limb – that was comforting.

After my morning torture session, courtesy of Tank,I was back in my apartment, coating on the mascara for a day with Lester. I liked Lester – he was far less reserved than the other Rangeman, and always had a joke ready. Of course he also peppered me with questions about Ranger. Hence the mascara. Bobby had told me yesterday that Ranger has been in a mood since they started the bodyguard thing. Stomping around, glaring at anything that moved, snapping at everyone, beating anyone to a pulp who dared to get in the ring with him. The guys here and the guys in Miami were holding their breath. I felt terrible, knowing that I caused most of that bad mood. There wasn't much I could do about that fact, however, seeing as how the man was avoiding me.

Today Lester was starting me on self-defense moves. His goal was for me to be able to take him down. I didn't think that would ever happen, but it would at least come in handy against some of the old men I had to chase. The wily ones were the worst. My only goal here was to be able to match their wily-ness.

Overall, the training was going really well. Apart from all the damn exercise, it was enjoyable. If it kept working at it, I could really see how these skills would come in handy. Assessing a room would be invaluable on distraction jobs. Spotting a tail when driving could have come in handy more times than I could count. And the lock-picking! Well, I would probably never be as good as Ranger, but I could now get in a basic house door without leaving evidence of my presence. That was good. The gun range still held little appeal for me, but the self defense – that I could get on board with. I had a sneaking suspicion I was still going to roll in garbage and blow up my cars, but maybe now I can do that without getting myself hurt.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later, Lester and I our fourth skip at the police station. This is what I love about bodyguard detail. There was not an ounce of garbage on me. I still smelled good, my hair was still teased, and all vehicles were un-charred.

The desk sergeant took one look at me and just sighed.

"What?" I huffed. "I'm perfectly clean and I haven't blown up anything in a week!"

"Yeah, I know. Believe me, I know. That knowledge cost me $200."

'You deserved it, jackass. Teach you to bet on my life anymore," I grumbled. Maybe this training would help in that department too. Though to be honest, what I should probably do is just stating adding to the pools. Maybe I'd get so rich I wouldn't need to catch skips anymore.

Lester and I were almost back to the truck when I heard my name being called. I turned to see Joe chasing after me. I stopped to let him catch up, a little nervous. We never did have that conversation that he tried to start on the way to the hospital a few days ago.

"Hey Santos, you recovered?" Joe asked Lester.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Good. No charges will be pressed on Mrs. Mazur, just so you know."

"Great," Lester said, grinning at me. "Next time, Bomber, I'm letting her go to jail, no matter how many riots it causes."

I grinned back at Lester. I was sure he'd never actually let my poor Grandma go to jail. Though I could see how it would make his job easier some days.

"Uh, Stephanie, can I talk to you?" Joe asked.

I nodded, as Lester headed toward the truck. He stopped once he was out of earshot, but he was keeping a close eye us in case he needed to step in. Considering how many cops were around, I was hoping it wouldn't be necessary.

"Hey Cupcake," he said when we no longer had an audience. "How are you doing? You've been doing great with the skips this week."

Of all the things I expected Joe to say, this was not at the top of my list. He almost looked proud of me. I blinked a few times to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

"Um, thanks. I've had some help" I said, gesturing at Lester. "But it's going well, and I'm doing good. The guys have started training me, and it's already making a difference.

"Wow, Ranger convinced you to get training? Maybe he's better for you than I thought."

Again, not what I expected to come out of Joe's mouth. And I wasn't overly fond of the assumption that I was doing this for Ranger.

"No, I haven't actually talked to Ranger in a while. He doesn't know about the training. This is something I'm doing for me. Figured I'd put a stop to the betting pools, just for the hell of it."

"I'm surprised. I figured after what I walked in on last week, I thought you guys would be together by now. I've spent the past week trying to convince myself that we're better off apart than we were together."

"Joe, there wasn't and isn't and probably never will be anything going on between Ranger and I. I wasn't lying to you. I wouldn't do that. And Joe, we are better off apart. And I really want us to be friends. You've been a part of my life for a long time, and I don't want to lose that."

"I don't get it Cupcake. If you didn't leave to me to be with Manoso, then why did we break up? We were good together."

"Because we want different things from life, because we have different goals, because we don't trust each other, because you hate my job, because we're simply better off as friends than as lovers." Sheesh, did I really need to go on? Where was all this 'good together' stuff during all our fights?

"Maybe so, but we could still make it work. I've missed you," he said, his eyes turning that dark chocolate color that always gets to me. For a split second, I thought about caving. I always did really. The hope in his voice, him telling him he missed me…it almost got me. But then I remembered everything I had just said, everything that was wrong with our relationship, even if you put my feelings for Ranger aside. And those were feelings that weren't so easily shoved into the background.

"Joe, we weren't good together. But we could be good friends."

"Damn it, Steph! Why won't you at least try. You keep saying you're not going running off to Manoso, but you're certainly running off somewhere!" 

"We did try! What do you think these last months have been about? And we always come back to the same fight, the same issues. And I am running somewhere – towards me! By myself. All alone. Because I'd rather be alone than in a bad relationship."

By now we were getting loud and starting to attract attention. Shit, why couldn't Joe get this? Did he really think we were that good together? Or was the sex just that good? Or was he still waiting for me to change, to become what he wanted?

"Why do you keep saying it was bad? Sure we fought, but it wasn't bad! You're going to throw away all our years together, so you can be alone?" Joe asked, clearly exasperated and not understanding me. That Italian temper of his was definitely rearing up now, and his voice was rising with it.

"I'm not throwing anything away, Joe!" I yelled back, trying to rein in my temper. "I could never just walk away from what we had. I do miss you, and I hate that I'm hurting you. I just think that we weren't headed anywhere good, and we need to cut our losses and move on, and try to be friends," I finished, my voice softer now.

Joe sighed and ran his hands over his head.

"Joe," I said softly, walking closer to him and touching his arm, "Any girl would be lucky to have you. I can't tell you how sorry I am that that girl is not going to be me."

He pulled me into a hug. "Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sure." I knew I was about to burst into tears, and I didn't want to do that in front of this many cops. They were already watching us interestedly. I could almost hear the sound of cell phones being whipped out, ready to spread this latest fight around the Burg. Oh well. I turned to Lester and smiled at the protective look on his face.

"I gotta go, Joe," I said, pulling out of his arms. "Please think about what I said. I really want us to be able to be friends."

He just nodded as I walked toward Lester and climbed in the truck.

"You okay?" he asked me, as he pulled out of the lot.

"Yeah, I think so. It could have been a lot worse. I do love Joe, and it kills me to hurt him, but it'd hurt him worse if I stayed with him, knowing I didn't love him enough to make it work."

Lester just nodded sympathetically. I was pretty sure I was rambling by now, and not at all sure that he understood what I was saying. Maybe it was a girl thing anyway. Marylou would understand. My mother would flip. Maybe I'll give her some time to cool off before calling over there.

Right about then, I realized Lester was pulling into the drive through at McDonald's. I stared at him in shock. He wasn't as bad of a health nut as Ranger, but he didn't eat fast food. "Omigod, you're taking me to McDonalds?" I finally sputtered out.

"You looked like you could use some comfort food."

I seriously almost teared up. That had to be the sweetest, most amazing….my thoughts trailed off as I leaned over Lester in the cab of the truck to order. In my haste to order everything from mcnuggets to a strawberry shake, I lost my balance and landed in his lap.

"Whoa there, Bomber, it's just food," Lester said laughing. He grabbed me by the arms, effortlessly picking me up off his lap and planting me back in my own seat.

My face was red, but I was laughing too. "Sorry, Les, I'm just excited."

"I bet I could get you way more excited than McDonald's food."

What is it with this man and his leering? "I don't know, Les. Micky D's is pretty good food. There's not much that can compare to it."

Immediately, Lester was leaning over me in my seat, his face close to mine. "Is that a challenge?" he asked with a smirk.

I cracked up laughing and smacked his arm. "Get off me, Santos. You're not nearly the hot stuff you think you are."

Lester just laughed as he paid for my food. What a gentleman. Well, actually no, considering his actions just two seconds ago. But he was sweet, nonetheless.

-------------------------------------------

An hour later, Lester and I had crawled into the ring in the gym at Haywood Street, ready to start my self-defense training. From the looks I was getting from a few of the men in there, I was pretty sure they all knew I was the cause of their boss' wrath. Or maybe their speculative looks were really shock that I would brave entering the building. I had to admit that it had crossed my mind that perhaps I shouldn't have come here. I didn't know if he was here or still in Miami, and I wasn't about to ask. The knowledge, however, that if he were here he would be able to watch everything I did on camera did not sit well. I really prefer not to make a fool out of myself in front of him. And I was pretty sure, from Lester's grin, that at least part of this 'training session' would consist of me foolishly laying on my ass on the mat.

Lester spent the next three hours walking me through various moves. He taught me how to hit someone on the soft spot in their wrist to force them to let go of me, and how to get out of various chokeholds. I know Lester was trying to be gentle, but I was going to have bruises around my neck from trying to twist the right direction out of the hold. The best part, though, was him showing me how to grab someone's arm in such a way that they couldn't get out of it.

"Okay," I said, holding Lester's arm straight out from his elbow, walking through the steps slowly. "I force your elbow up like this, pull your fingers apart between the middle and ring fingers like this, and push up and back like this."

I grinned in satisfaction as Lester grimaced in pain and nodded. "Yeah Bomber, you've got me. If I try to move my arm at all, I'll dislocate the elbow."

I could hear the Merry Men clapping and whistling behind me. Letting go of Lester, I turned to take a bow.

Halfway back up, I let out a whoosh and found myself flat on my back staring into Lester's smug face. "Better watch how cocky you get, Bombshell."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I said, trying unsuccessfully to push Lester off me. Finally, he seemed to get the hint and let me up. I realized as I stood that I was going to be very sore tomorrow.

"Okay, I think that's it for today, Bomber. Want me to run you home?"

"Yeah, thanks," I said, trying to shake loose some of my stiff muscles.

When we got to the apartment, Lester walked up with me to make sure it was safe.

"You planning on going anywhere tonight?"

"Nope, I'm staying here with my ice cream," I said happily.

"Okay. If you do decide to go somewhere, make sure you call me. Don't go out by yourself, and more importantly, don't come back into the apartment by yourself," Lester said, with one of those looks that guaranteed that he meant it.

"Sure thing, dad, I'll call."

Lester glared. "I mean it, Bomber. Don't come in here alone."

"Okay, I won't. See you later," I said, practically shoving him out the door in my haste to get to my ice cream.

At 5:45, I realized I had absolutely no food in my apartment, and the Chubby Hubby I was working on just wasn't going to cut it for the whole night. I also new that my mother was serving pork chops tonight, and that they were out of this world.

I grabbed the keys and dashed out. I knew I was supposed to call Lester if I was going to leave, but I couldn't be late. Late meant burned pork chops, which meant no dessert. I had already missed dessert once this week because of Lester. Well, that was actually because of Grandma. It seemed a little harsh to blame it on Lester, seeing as how he was unconscious at the time. I figured I'd call him when I left my parent's to escort me back inside, and it would all be just fine. It was just dinner, what could go wrong?

I hopped into the big blue and drove as fast as I could deeper into the Burg. I had shot my pride to hell and borrowed the big blue the day before. Not my idea of style, but seeing as how it was indestructible, well it just made good sense until we had Jimmy back behind bars.

What I had forgotten as I dashed toward pork chops was that Joe and I had gotten into it that morning at the Trenton PD, and that my mother had heard about it.

She started the second I hit the door.

"Stephanie, this is a nice surprise. Why didn't you bring Joseph with you?"

Oh my god, it has finally happened. My antics have caused my mother to go around the bend.

"Um, what? Mom, I told you last week, we broke up."

"Oh I know, but you got back together today, at the police station."

At this I just blinked a few times.

"I heard from Sandra Palowski's daughter Jenny who is dating that new rookie cop at the station that you and Joe were talking outside the police station, and then you cried and you both hugged. You're back together, right?"

Shit. Not only does the entire gossip mill know that I almost cried in front of the entire police force, but everyone thinks Joe and I are back together. Guess this was the day I should have used Mary Lou to pre-empt the grapevine. Well, I can call her tonight have her try to straighten people back out. But right now, I had to deal with my mother.

"No mom, we're not back together. We talked today, and we decided that we're better off apart. He just gave me a hug, that's all."

"You're not back together?"

"No, mom."

"You're not going to marry Joseph?"

"No, mom."

"Oh dear," she said, as she headed toward the kitchen. I did feel kind of bad. I slowly followed and found my dad already seated at the table, trying futilely to ignore Grandma.

"Hi Stephanie! Did you really get back with Joseph? He was so nice to me the other night, but I still think you're better off with that nice bounty hunter. Or even that guy I almost killed."

I didn't even bother to respond to my Grandma as I slid into my chair, putting a hand to my eye to stop the twitching. All this for pork chops. They better be good. And there better be dessert.

Forty-five minutes and two slices of pineapple upside down cake later, my eye had finally stopped twitching, and I headed to the big blue with my trusty bag of leftovers.

I had my key in the door of my apartment before I remembered Lester's admonition not to go in there alone. But I really had to pee, and I hadn't been gone longer than an hour. Surely nothing had happened.

I opened the door and walked in. I stopped dead in my tracks, more from confusion than anything else.

Ashes.

There were ashes everywhere, over every surface. But nothing looked burnt. Nothing looked charred. There was no smoke. But everything was covered in ashes.

I walked to the middle of the living room, turning around, trying to figure out what the hell I was seeing. That was when I spotted them. On the dining room table. Urns. Seven large urns that at one point contained cremated bodies. Bodies that were now spread over every surface in my apartment.

The blood drained from my face as I ran toward the bedroom. The bed was covered in ashes too. I turned as fast as I could to check the bathroom. That was when the unthinkable happened. In my haste, I tripped. I fell flat on my ass in ash. But because of the awkward way I fell, I couldn't catch my balance. My entire torso tipped back, and my head landed on the floor. The back of my head, and all my hair, was now covered in ashes. People's ashes. I was okay when it was just the bottom of my feet that had been touched, but this was my hair. My hair! And the entire back half of my body. Screaming, I jumped up and ran the rest of the way into the bathroom. Luckily, that was the one spot in the apartment that was not covered. Shaking, I sunk to the floor in the bathroom and pulled my phone out my pocket. Without even thinking, I pressed speed dial one.


	13. Chapter 13

_Thanks so much for all of you who read and reviewed the previous chapter. This is still my first story, so I realize it's a bit rough. Thanks for the continuing reviews, and again, feel free to be critical._

_Disclaimer: I still own none of these characters. I hesitating to even claim the plot now. I am making no profit for this dribbil, and will return all characters to the very talented J.E. soon, with minimal wear and tear._

_Rated Mature for language. Be forewarned that these are adult characters._

------------------------------------------------------------

He answered on the first ring.

"Stephanie."

"There's ashes. Everywhere. There all over me."

"Babe, where are you?"

"In my apartment. It's people's ashes. There are urns. I'm covered in it." I wasn't crying at this point, just oddly gasping for air. I was too shocked to cry.

"We'll be there in ten, stay on the line with me, babe." I could still hear him in the background, as he clearly turned to talk to someone else. "This meeting is adjourned. Tank, Santos, Brown, now. It's Stephanie."

I could hear doors slamming and big feet in boots hitting the steps. What seemed like a split second later, though I was sure they had just run down 5 flights, an engine turned over and tires squeled.

"We're on our way, babe."

"Okay. Thank you. Sorry to make you leave a meeting," I said, just now realizing that he had clearly been in the middle of something. The fact that he had answered his phone with my first name sunk in as well.

"It's alright. We're still about three minutes away, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm in the bathroom. There are no ashes in here, just the ones on me."

"Heard you got a whole bunch of skips today," he said, clearly trying to distract me.

"Yeah, they tend to cuff themselves when I have one of the guys with me."

"I could see how that would come in handy."

Car door slammed below, as I heard an engine turn off. A minute later, I could hear my door shattering (again) from the living room and through the phone. Ranger found me sitting on the bathroom floor, still clutching the phone to my ear. He took one look at me, and scooped me up, setting me on my feet and tucking my phone into his pocket. He quickly divested me of all my clothes and set me in the shower, flipping it on.

It was more than a little awkward to naked while he was fully dressed, but he didn't seem to notice. He just left the curtain open and grabbed the shower head to wash the ash out of my hair. He had to be getting wet too, but he didn't seem to notice that either. I didn't say anything, but just kind of stood there until he determined that my hair was ash free, flipped off the shower, and wrapped me in a towel.

"Wait right here babe, for just a second."

I nodded as he left. A second later, he re-appeared with clean clothes for me. Taking them from him, I shut the curtain, threw the towel over the shower bar, and managed to get dressed without getting the clean clothes too soaked.

The second I re-opened the shower curtain, Ranger lifted me up under the armpits, and set me back down on the vanity facing him, bypassing the half ash/half water mess that now covered the bathroom floor. He stood in front of me, between my legs, and pulled me toward him. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Thanks for your help," I said from my place cuddled into his chest. "I didn't freak out until I realized it was in my hair." At that realization I promptly burst into tears. God, what was with me? I never cried this much. Though these tears were probably more from the fact that I was wrapped up in Ranger's arms, who showed up in spite of his anger, than from the ashes. Though the fact that my entire apartment was coated in the cremated remains of seven people certainly didn't do much for my emotional stability.

"It's okay, babe. It's out of your hair now, and we'll get the rest cleaned up. It'll be fine." The soothing circles he was rubbing on my back were calming me.

I nodded and sniffled a bit. Not eager to face any of it, I stayed right where I was.

Lester poked his head in a minute later. "The crime scene guys are trying to clear path to walk. The cops will want to talk to you in a bit to get your statement."

I moved my head enough to nod at Lester, but was careful to keep the rest of myself still. I had every intention of staying here as long as possible.

A couple minutes later, Ranger spoke up. "Any particular reason why you called me instead of Morelli?"

What? I leaned back and started up him, but his face giving nothing away. Was he really that mad at me that he did even want me calling him for help anymore? I knew I had been rude, but the way he's been acting, you'd think I ripped out his heart and stomped on it. If anyone's heart had been stomped on during that fight, it was mine.

"Sorry," I finally answered when it was clear he was still expecting an answer. "It's just habit, and I was freaked out. I'll try to stop," I said, trying to disentangle myself from his arms.

"I don't mind helping you, babe. I was just surprised that you'd still call me after getting back together with Morelli"

Did he really think that poorly of me that he just assumed I was back with Joe? But my mother's words floated back into my head. Shit, that damn rumor going around the Burg. Who the hell told Ranger?

"We're not back together," I said, enunciating my words so there was no misunderstanding. "We talked at the police station today, decided that we are, in fact, better of apart, and hugged. That's it. We did not, and will not, get back together."

Ranger just looked at me for a second. "Okay. Wanna go give your statement now?"

I just sighed and nodded. He grabbed me some shoes from my closet, and helped me down.

"Will you give me a second?" I asked, just now remembering that the whole reason I rushed in here alone was that I had to pee so badly.

When I emerged from the bathroom, Ranger was waiting for me. We slowly headed into the living room, to find Joe was standing in front of the couch.

"Hey, Cupcake, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just a little freaked out. I guess I should of listened to Lester and not tried to come in here alone."

I felt Ranger stiffen behind me when I said this. Joe just shook his head at me. "Yeah, that might have been smart." His expression tightened when he noticed Ranger behind me, though he had to have known he was here. "You can come to the station in the morning to give your statement if you want, Cupcake. But you probably can't stay here for a couple days. It's going to take a while to sort through all this."

"She's staying with me," Ranger said behind me. Bobby appeared, handing him a bag that looks suspiciously like my luggage.

"What? Wait, I can…." I trailed off, seeing the look on his face. He didn't seem happy.

I glanced quickly at Joe, and then back at Ranger. "I can stay at my parents, or…"

"You can't stay at your parents, there's no protection there," he said, cutting me off. "You can stay with me or Morelli, make your choice."

What? Seriously, what was with him tonight? I glanced back at Joe, who had been watching us. He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, and walked off, mumbling that he wanted no part of this.

I looked back at Ranger, who was still glowering. "Fine," I said, grabbing the bag from him and gesturing toward the door. He nodded and led me out of the room. Neither of us spoke during the short ride back to the Haywood Street offices.

"Fourth floor or seventh?" he finally asked, as we climbed into the elevator.

"Fourth please." I was getting angrier by the second. It was generous of him to rescue me, yet again, but he didn't have to be so fucking commandeering about it. "I don't even understand why you're doing this. I would have been fine. I could have gone somewhere else."

"Damn it, Steph!" he yelled, hitting his fist against the side of the elevator. That alone was more anger than I had ever seen him display, and for the first time I was vaguely scared of him. "You seriously think I don't care about you? After everything over the past three years, that's what you take from it. That I don't give a shit?"

I stared at him, my eyes huge, and quickly filling with tears. The elevator doors dinged, saving me from answering. He stalked off down the hallway, opening one of the apartments for me. I preceded him in but stopped when I heard the door slam shut behind us.

Slowly turning, I faced him. He was standing just inside the door, arms crossed, his posture stiff. But at least some of his control back.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened in my apartment last week. Really, I know you care for me in your own way, and I'm sorry to have accused you otherwise. I value our friendship, Ranger, more than you could possibly know. Can we please just try to get past that so we can still be friends?"

"I don't want just friendship from you, babe."

"Then what exactly do you want from me, Ranger?"

He just stared at me for a moment. As the moment stretched on, so did my patience.

"You have to give me something here. You have to say something," I demanded softly.

He sighed and put his hands on his head, taking a deep breath. "I don't know. I have no idea."

For a man who prides himself on his absolute control of every situation, I could see how much it cost him to say that. And that he was even willing to say that to me probably touched me even more than a proclamation of undying love would have. Because this I knew was real.

I walked over to him, snaking my arms around his neck. His arms came down around my waist.

"I don't know either, but I'd really like for us find out together."

He pulled me tighter to him, but his face didn't relax. "I don't know, Steph. More than anything else, I couldn't stand to see you get hurt because of me. I couldn't live with that," he said, leaning his forehead against mine.

"And I couldn't stand to live without you in my life." I took a deep breath and continued, my voice soft but firm. "You have to promise me, Ranger. Promise me that we'll always be a part of each others lives, even if all we can ever be is friends. Please?"

"I won't make you promises, babe. I don't live the kind of life where I can promise you anything more than right now."

He leaned back, brushing away the curls that had fallen in my face. "I know you want more than I can give you right now. Someday…" he paused, swallowing hard. "Someday, babe, I wanna give you the world. But right now…."

He trailed off. The look of regret I could see in his normally blank face broke my heart.

"Okay." Disentangling my arms, I took a step back, away from him. What else is there to say to that. Whether it was a lack of desire or ability, the simple reality was that we weren't going to be together. A month ago, hell a week ago, I had come to terms with that fact. We had finally been getting to a place where we could just be friends after all the emotion of Julie's kidnapping. But today, hearing those words hurt more than I could have imagined.

His blank face dropped back down as I put space between us.

"Get some sleep. I'll pick you up in the morning to go to the station." He turned and walked out the door, the click of the lock behind him sounding impossibly loud in the small apartment. I walked toward the bathroom to take another shower, hoping the scalding water would soothe my battered nerves. I refused to cry this time. I had already cried over this man. If it wasn't meant to be, it simply wasn't meant to be, and I had to accept that and move on. We'd all love our fantasy of 'someday,' but there was a reason they were called fantasies. Because someday you simply had to grow up and leave the dreams behind.


	14. Chapter 14

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned. Rating for language. _

--------------------------------------------------

I sat silently, staring straight ahead. I was too tired to move, but too wired to sleep. It was a terrible middle ground between awake and asleep, where my brain wouldn't work, but the pain wouldn't stop.

Finally a knock sounded on the door of the 4th floor apartment, shaking me from my reverie. I stood up from the couch where I had sank down after my shower and went to see who it was. I don't know why I bothered to go and check, I couldn't think of a single person I actually wanted to talk to right now.

But the second I opened the door I felt better. There stood Lester, and he was holding up a bag of boston crèmes in one hand and a copy of Ghostbusters in the other. I couldn't even help it, I launched myself into his arms. He was startled, if the grunt and immediate step backwards were any indication, but he awkwardly patted me on the back with the pastry bag and movie.

"Hey Bombshell. We thought you might be feeling a little crazy. Since it's still my day to rescue you…"

"Thanks," I mumbled, now embarrassed at my action.

He followed me inside and plopped down on the couch next to me to watch Ghostbusters for the second time in as many weeks. He even helped me plow through the bag of donuts.

We didn't talk, but twenty minutes into the movie, I laid my head on Lester's shoulder and fell asleep. I woke the next morning, sprawled on the couch with a blanket over me.

It had been sweet of Lester, really, but it hadn't helped. My heart hurt just as badly this morning as it had last night. Ranger had hurt me before, but this time was different. This time I wasn't even angry. There was just this terrible, pervasive sadness. This surety that he simply would never feel about me the way that I felt about him.

I had just finished getting ready for the day when a knock startled me. Looking out the peephole, I realized it was Ranger. I opened the door silently.

"Hi, Babe," he said, tucking a stray curl behind my ear. My heart clenched at the tender gesture. As he started to lower his head, I tried to steel myself, but it didn't work. At the feel of his lips against mine, I grabbed onto his shirt, partly to anchor myself to him and partly to keep from falling apart.

He finally straightened up and entered the apartment, leaving me standing beside the door trying to collect myself. It was an inadequate attempt at best.

"We need to go to the station to give your statement. We also need to meet with the detective in charge of the case – seems there have been some new developments."

"Okay. I didn't realize there was an actual case." I managed to peel myself off the door and cross to the kitchen where he had poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Between the destruction of your car and apartment, it's become a police matter."

"Okay. Who's the lead detective?"

He didn't respond for a minute. "Morelli."

My eyes widened at this news. Shit. There was no way I could handle that right now. I had a hard time figuring out how to get through the day when I just though it would be Tank and I catching skips. But Joe and Ranger in the same room?

I tried to hide my distress as I turned back to Ranger. "What time is the meeting?"

"Not till 10. Do you want to go get some breakfast?"

I had a feeling that saying no would only make him stay in this apartment for the next hour, and I knew I couldn't handle that. A restaurant would be more neutral. Thinking back to this morning's two lone donuts, and decided that it would also offer me the benefit of reinforcements.

"Yes. Yes I do. Just let me grab my purse, and I'm ready to go."

As I did that, Ranger handed me my phone. Actually, it wasn't my phone, it was the one he had given me last week that only he had the number to.

"I had the number changed to yours, and your phonebook moved over. This one's more secure."

I accepted it silently. My first instinct was to whine that he had done it without asking. But I realized that this was not how I wanted to start my morning, and it was certainly not a big enough issue to fight over. It was a secure phone, and that could never be a bad thing.

We rode to a small diner a few minutes from the station in silence. Neither of us spoke until we had been seated, ordered, and had our drinks in front of us.

"Babe, about last night…"

I quickly cut him off. I had no need to hear that conversation again. "It's okay, Ranger. I get it. I really do understand." I turned my head away from his intense gaze, hoping he would let it go.

After a moment, I saw him nod once out of the corner of my eye.

The uncomfortable silence continued, until our food was served, providing some level of distraction. 

We finally just left for the police station, arriving with enough time for me to give my statement to Eddie before our meeting with Joe. It was a short statement – there wasn't much to say beyond what the cops had already seen.

Apparently, however, they had seen quite a bit that I hadn't.

As Ranger and I entered the conference room, Joe handed me a few of those crime-scene plastic envelopes with notes in them. Hand-written notes that, at a glance, looked distinctly like threats to my personal well-being.

"Steph, Manoso," he said, nodding to each of us. He didn't look thrilled to see Ranger behind me, but he seemed to be playing nice this morning. "Cupcake, how are you?"

"I'm fine Joe. I was shook up last night, but I'm all right," I answered, smiling at him. And it was true. Regardless of how much I had been effected by Ranger, I was pissed as hell about Jimmy's little stunt. Bring on the cremated body parts, I was Wonder Woman today.

"Good to hear it," Joe said, waving us both toward the conference table. Another detective I didn't know entered the room and sat down with us. Joe made the rounds, introducing us all to Officer Antonio Jacobs. He was a young Italian cop, who had just made detective and transferred from a smaller town in Central Jersey.

"So, what do we know?" I asked Joe. Ranger had sent over the background information we had compiled on Clark earlier this morning, but the cops had information from last night.

"Those notes were found in the urns. There were seven urns, all stolen from a local crematorium. It looks like, however, the ashes and urns were stolen separately. The ashes were actually from unclaimed bodies, so at least there won't be repercussions to family members."

Well, that's good. But still, even if the bodies were unclaimed, it felt like a terrible violation to steal them and mindlessly spread them around. Not to mention the death cooties.

"What will happen to the ashes?" I asked.

"They'll go back to the crematorium to be stored, but they'll stay all mixed up. Unfortunately, there's no way to separate the remains now."

I nodded, sad for those people I had never met, whose remains had been used in such a way.

I started flipping through the threats. I was right, they were not notes wishing me well. One threatened to remove my legs, one to remove my arms, and one to remove my spleen.

"Well that's a first."

"What is?" Ranger asked me.

"Usually they threaten to remove my heart or cut off my head or something. I've never had my spleen threatened. Do I even need my spleen?"

"Babe. I don't think you need it, but I'm not sure you'd appreciate it being ripped out."

I shuddered at the thought. I was odd, however, that Jimmy had only threatened non-essential body parts. I'm sure that the actual removal process of any of them would be my demise, but it still seemed odd. A very passive-aggressive way to kill someone.

"I don't get it. These threats are worse than anything else I've gotten from him. Why is he getting so much more aggressive after weeks of just being annoying?"

"You have bodyguards now. The threat to him is rising, so he's reacting."

We all three stared at Detective Jacobs. That was the first thing he had said since hello. My gaze swung to Ranger, who nodded.

"Remember, babe, he's not stable. If his head is where we think it is, seeing you as some enemy trying to capture him, then the presence of bodyguards appears more like the presence of partners. It's a theory that war strategists call 'reciprocal escalation.' He thinks that you've increased the threat to him by brining in more muscle, more ammunition. So he reciprocates by becoming more violent, destroying your home, threatening your body. The problem here is that no matter what you actually do, he views your actions as threatening. Which means his actions will continue to become more violent, more aggressive."

I nodded. Not good news for me. But I'll put up hell before I end up in safe house. I was pretty sure Ranger knew that. It's not like any previous attempt to lock me in a safe house had gone well.

"Anything else about Steph's apartment that was important?" Ranger asked Joe and Detective Jacobs.

"Jimmy Clark's fingerprints were everywhere, but we haven't gone through the rest of the prints yet. There may have been an accomplice in there that we can't isolate yet."

"Steph, what have you found out about Clark?"

I turned to Ranger, who nodded that I should proceed.

"Now's not really the time to be withholding information from the police, Steph," Joe said, sensing my rather obvious hesitation. So far through this meeting, no Italian, Hungarian or Latin tempers had collided, but I could tell that keeping my mouth shut now could might tip that uneasy balance.

"Unfortunately, I don't know much. I talked to his neighbors and friends when I first got the case, and got nowhere. That's when he started leaving notes and messages. At that point, I was content to just let it go. I stopped looking for him, and I thought he stopped looking for me. Until the night at the nightclub."

At the mention of that night, Joe's face darkened. He was still fairly calm, but the look on his face clearly implied that he was not thrilled to be reminded of that incident.

"When I realized he wasn't going to stop stalking me just because I stopped looking for him, I started being more careful," I continued, hoping to forestall Joe.

"Except for when you went to your parent's house alone last week, and went you went into your apartment alone last night."

Jerk. He didn't need to bring that up. I glared at Joe, but continued.

"At any rate, after he burned my car, Tank and I went looking for him again. We re-canvassed the neighborhood, but they hadn't seen him since they whole thing started. There had been no sign of movement at his place, so he has to be hiding out somewhere else. His friends had nothing more to offer than his neighbors did, but he must have help to be hiding as well as he is. So there has to be friends or accomplices that we just don't know about."

I felt more depressed as I summed up Tank's and my unsuccessful attempt at rooting out Jimmy Clark.

"I can try to find out if he served with anyone who is now in the Trenton area," Ranger spoke up.

I flashed him a smile. "Thanks, that might bring up some people we haven't talked to."

Joe nodded, though he did glower just a bit at Ranger.

"What came up with the license plate?" I asked Joe, knowing that Lester had given Joe the info at the hospital last week. I knew Ranger had the info too, I just hadn't had the change to ask him yet.

"Stolen," all three men answered at the same time.

More harsh glances were exchanged between Joe and Ranger. Detective Jacobs was watching the interplay between Joe and Ranger amusedly. I wasn't sure if he'd been in town long enough to know my entire life story, but he'd know soon enough. At the very least, he didn't look bored.

"Anything else?" Both men were still calm, but I had to say something to relieve quickly-escalating tension.

"No that's it," Joe answered, pushing his chair back and standing. The rest of us followed suit. "Steph, can I talk to you for just a second?"

I glanced at Ranger, who nodded and left the room. Detective Jacobs followed.

"Are you sure you want to work with Manoso on this case, Steph? The police are involved now, and you never know what side of the law he's going to come down on."

Whew. Don't bother to ease into the subject or anything. "Joe, you've worked with Ranger before when it comes to helping me. Why are you so worried now?"

"I don't mind working with Ranger when I'm calling the shots, and know that everything is legit. I just don't like you working so closely with him. I don't want you in over your head."

I snorted at this. I couldn't help it. No one calls the shots with Ranger. He may let Joe think he's calling the shots, but I know exactly who is in charge.

"I'm always in over my head Joe. And I trust Ranger implicitly. So if you're going to work this case, you have to deal with both of us."

"Fine. I just want you safe, Cupcake."

"I know."

I shook my head at Joe and left the room. I found Ranger outside the door and we walked together to the truck.

"You okay?" he asked as we climbed in.

"Yeah, fine." I was exhausted actually. Something about Joe and Ranger being in the same room was exhausting. That much alpha male tension was palpable, and it was draining. Add to that the brand new threats to dissect my body limb from limb, and I needed a nap.

He gave me a soft smile. "You wanna go back to the apartment to take a nap?"

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night. Not that the couch in there isn't comfortable, it's just not the same as sleeping in a bed."

Ranger gave me a sharp glance. I said that out loud. Crap.

"Care to explain that, babe?"

"Um, Lester and I were watching ghostbusters and I fell asleep."

He shot me another look. If I didn't know better, I would have though the was jealous.

"He said it was still his day to rescue me, and he figured I'd be too freaked out to sleep." I didn't bother to mention that they must have known that Ranger wasn't there to do it himself.

Ranger seemed to accept that. Lester was sweet, but the last thing I needed in my life right now was an over-protective, hot, Latin man. I was pretty sure that one was enough of those.

My phone rang almost the same moment I got comfortable in my new bed on the 4th floor. I almost didn't answer it, figuring it was my mother. I hadn't talked to her since the ash incident, and I wasn't eager to hear her opinion.

But I did my daughterly duty, dragging my ass out of bed and grabbing it. I blinked a few times when I saw a number I didn't recognize.

"Hello."

"Hello Stephanie. Did you get your apartment cleaned up?"

I didn't recognize the voice, but my spidey-sense clearly picked-up the creepy vibe.

"Who is this?"

"You don't know? You've been trying to catch me for weeks, and you don't even know who I am?"

"Jimmy." It was more a statement than a question at this point. It was met by a short laugh.

"What do you want, Jimmy?"

"I want you to know that I'm serious. You will not catch me, Ms. Plum. Have a nice day."

He was gone. I stared at my phone for a second, and then took off running for the elevator.


	15. Chapter 15

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language. _

--------------------------------------------------

I burst into the Comm room, startling every RangeMan in sight. I don't think they were accustomed to little white girls running in, ashen face, panting for air, and holding up their phones. But then again, they were getting used to me, so maybe they weren't as startled as they looked.

Tank saw me and grabbed the phone out of my hand. He tried to pat me on the back, which I'm sure would be comforting to a man his size. A man like Tank patting me on the back, however, just knocked me over.

"What the hell?"

"Oh, sorry Bombshell. Just thought you looked like you needed to calm down." He grabbed my outstretched hand and helped me back to my feet. I could hear several snorts, laughs, and 'way to go, dumbass' remarks coming from around the room.

I was almost back up to my feet when a sudden hush came over the room. I looked up from my spot on my knees to see a very, very calm Ranger staring at me. Too calm, if the little lines around his mouth and the looks he was giving Tank were any indication.

He raised an eyebrow at Tank.

"Sorry boss…"

I jumped in to interrupt Tank. "I just fell. Tank was helping me up. I was upset and tripped over my feet." No need for Tank to get the blame here – and me tripping was an entirely believable, if not common, occurrence. Besides, Tank was just trying to help me out. And to tell the truth, his whacking me on the back actually did calm me down. I had almost forgotten the phone call.

"Thought you were taking a nap?"

Almost forgot the phone call. Damn.

"Uh, Jimmy Clark called my cell," I said, gesturing to the phone that Tank was still holding.

Everyone stilled and stared at me in shock, probably wondering why I hadn't mentioned that five minutes ago. I would have if I hadn't just been pummeled to the ground by a man three times my size.

Ranger grabbed the phone from Tank and threw it to a guy across the room. "Find that call."

The man Ranger threw it too immediately plugged the phone into some fancy gizmo and started pounding away at his keyboard. I had no idea who the guy was. I thought I had gotten to know most of them when I had been working here.

"That's Mac. He just transferred from Miami, and knows electronics. Tell me what Jimmy said." Damn ESP.

I followed Ranger into his office, repeating the short conversation to him.

"We didn't talk for long. Will Mac be able to trace it?"

"He probably won't be able to get an exact location, but he'll be able to get other information."

Sure enough, a split second later, Mac knocked once on the door.

"Come in."

Mac entered and tossed a file folder to Ranger and handed my phone back to me. "Call came from Newark. Couldn't get more of a location than that. It was a pre-paid cell."

"Thanks, Mac."

Wow, that was fast. Mac was already out of the room and heading back towards his desk. I guess mastering one-word sentences has its benefits.

"Mac activated a recording device on your phone," Ranger said. "If he calls back, we'll have a record of it."

"Uh, you'll have a record of everything I say on my phone?" That could get embarrassing. Imagine a tape of my conversations with Mary Lou floating around the control room. Or worse, my grandmother.

My panic must have been clearly showing on my face, if the smirk Ranger was wearing was any indication. "Yeah, Babe. But we'll only listen to any future messages from Clark. Everything else will be destroyed. No one wants to hear what your grandmother might say."

I nodded, relieved. I didn't like it, but it would be practical until this thing with Jimmy was over. But as soon as it was, I was getting rid of this phone. It might be secure, but the level of technology was just plain creepy.

"Nothing else we can do now. Why don't you go get that nap, and we'll have a team meet at four to figure out what to do next."

"You're having a whole meeting about me?"

"Babe. We often have meetings about you. I figured since you're here, you might want to attend."

"Oh. Sure, that'd be great." They have meetings about me? I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or humiliated that I required that much attention.

"If you leave the building or want to go to work at any point today, please take Tank with you."

"Okay," I said, getting up to leave. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep now. I might as well make some money.

I found Tank in the break room with a sandwich. "Oh my god I forgot lunch."

Tank cracked up laughing. "You, Bombshell? You never forget a meal. Those threats to remove your spleen must have really gotten to you."

"Nah. I don't need my spleen. It was dealing with Joe and Ranger in the same room that exhausted me to the point I wasn't even hungry."

Tank nodded sympathetically and grabbed me another sandwich for me.

"Stephanie!" Ella said, bustling in, loaded down with more food for the guys. "It's so nice to see you again. Are you coming back to work here again?"

"Hi Ella. It's nice to see you too. And no, I'm not working here again." I really wasn't sure how to explain past that. Tank solved it for me.

"She has another psycho after her, so she's hiding out here again."

"Oh dear. Are you staying with Ranger? I can bring up some extra towels and some nice desserts with dinner."

"Uh, no." Well, this is getting awkward. "I'm, um, in one of the apartments on the fourth floor."

"Oh, okay then. I'll drop off some treats for you."

"Thanks, Ella," I said, as she headed back out the door.

"Speaking of that, Bomber, why aren't you staying with Ranger? You usually do when you're here."

My gaze swung to Tank. "Um, we're still having a difference of opinion. Though he did offer to let me stay with him."

Thankfully, Tank let it go at that. The heaviness in my heart made me want to do anything but discuss Ranger. I was trying my best to deny the whole thing and pretend that we could just go on as friends as if nothing had happened. Part of me hoped that was the case, and the rest of me was terrified that it wasn't possible.

"Well, we only have a couple hours before the meeting. Do you want to get some of your skips, or go to the gym? We could do more on the self-defense training and maybe hit the gun range."

To be honest, I'd rather go after skips. But I wasn't up for dealing with Lula and Connie right now. I was still a mess from dealing with Ranger, and I didn't even want to have to explain the ashes in my apartment last night. I could probably hide out for another day before I was forced to set the rumor mill straight and deal with my mother.

"The gym."

Tank smirked. I'm pretty he was aware that I was avoiding the Bond's office.

We headed that direction, and started working in the ring. I knew Ranger was still upstairs, and could easily be watching. At this point I didn't care. I was pissed at Jimmy for covering my apartment in death cooties, upset with myself for the tension between Ranger and I, and restless as hell. Trying to kick Tank's ass was as good an activity as any.

We stopped a little after three. I was exhausted, sore, and dripping with sweat. Not a pretty sight. I headed for the fourth floor to clean up and relax before the meeting. Hopefully someone at this meeting would have information.

I walked onto the 5th floor just a few minutes before four o'clock. I saw Lester and Bobby talking together in the break room, so I headed that direction.

"Hey Bomber."

"Hey Bobby. How are you guys?"

"Good. How are you? Still freaked out?"

"Nah, I'm ready to kiss ass."

Both guys grinned at that news. They didn't handle me crying well, so I'm sure they were relieved that I wasn't going to break down sobbing at any point.

Lester leaned over to give me a hug. "How'd you sleep, beautiful?"

"Good. Thanks for the blanket."

"Sure." Lester kissed me on the cheek. Bobby looked vaguely panicked at this, but I didn't realize why until I looked up to see Ranger glaring at Lester.

"Let's go," Ranger said, heading for the conference room.

I smiled sheepishly at Lester and followed. He just winked at me. From his grin, I'd almost think he was baiting Ranger on purpose.

"He'll come around faster if we make him jealous."

He was doing it on purpose! I stood gaping at Lester's retreating figure. It was funny, but I had the sinking suspicion that it wasn't going to work.

Finally, I shook myself and joined the guys in the conference room. Tank grabbed my hand and put me down in the seat between him and Ranger.

I looked over at Ranger. He was studying the papers in front of him, and hadn't noticed me yet. Well, Ranger noticed everything. So more than likely, he simply hadn't acknowledged me yet.

"Okay, what have we found out about Clark?" he asked to the room at large as soon as we were all in and settled.

Mac spoke up first. "We know he called from Newark, with a cell. The cell was turned off as soon as he ended the call, so he'll probably ditch it. I traced the phone number, and it was also purchased in Newark, in a store on the south side of town."

"I have the list of people he served with," Bobby said.

"Okay, pass that out. Everybody check to see if you find any addresses in South Newark."

The room was silent as everyone took a sheet of the list Bobby had printed out. I scanned my sheet, looking for Jersey addresses. I found one in Newark and one in Elizabeth. There were six other addressed found in and around Newark. One of the addresses Cal found, and the one on my list in Elizabeth, were the closest to the store where the phone was bought.

"If Jimmy is hiding in Newark, it makes perfect sense," I said. "He's close enough to keep stalking me, but just far enough away that we can't find him."

"Yeah, Babe. That sounds about right." Ranger smiled at me and slid his arm across the back of my chair.

The guys continued discussing Clark's possible address in Newark, while I zoned out. Ranger's fingers had started making little circles on my upper back. The contact was shooting through my body and making my heart clench painfully. Everything he had said the night before was racing through my mind. I glanced over at him, but he was focused on the conversation. From his level of attention, I wasn't sure he was even aware he was touching me.

I slid forward in my seat, just far enough to break the contact. Ranger looked at me, his intense gaze narrowing.

'Sorry,' he mouthed, as he removed his arm.

I looked at him a second longer, as he swallowed hard, and then turned his attention back to the group. Something flashed in his eyes before he turned away from me, but I didn't know what it was.

I wondered what he could read from my expression. If my pain was clearly evident in my eyes, or if he even cared. The lack of contact on my skin was almost as agonizing as his touch had been. Resisting the urge to either burst into tears, or scoot my chair closer to Tank, I turned my attention back to the meeting in time to hear Ranger dismissing everyone.

"Did you hear any of that, Babe?"

"Um, sure." I really didn't want to admit that I hadn't been paying attention, but it had to have been obvious

Ranger tipped his lips upward in a soft smile. "We're going up to Newark in groups. We'll question neighbors at each house on the list. If we figure out where he is, we'll stake it out. If not, we'll stake out the two addresses that seemed most likely."

"Come on Bomber," Tank said from the doorway. "It's still my day with you. We're going to leave in half an hour, so you might want to go find some junk food. It's gonna be a long night."

I was not looking forward to a long evening of surveillance with Tank. But if it would get me closer to ending this thing with Jimmy and going home, I was prepared to make the sacrifice. I had knew after last night that I needed to move on with my life. Stop waiting for Ranger to change his mind. But the close proximity of me living in this building would make that impossible.

Thirty minutes later found me in the garage, jumping into Tank's Explorer, loaded down with junk food and caffeine. Tank had the more practical items like binoculars, a photo of Jimmy for canvassing, and radio that allowed us to all communicate.

"So Bombshell, you didn't say much about Ranger earlier. What's going on? We could see you guys in the elevator last night, but couldn't hear what was being said."

Sheesh, we weren't even out of the parking lot yet. I had been preparing myself for Tank's inquisition, but I figured he'd at least wait until a few hours into the stake-out.

"Well, Tank, it looks like your 'assessment' of the situation was wrong. He doesn't want me. It's as simple as that."

"Bomber, I know that ain't true."

"What do you want me to say, Tank? He spent a week avoiding me. Then last night, he was mad that I thought he didn't care about me, but then went on to say that he didn't want to be with me. What else do I take from that? He clearly cares about me on some level as a friend or employee, but he's not in love with me."

I swallowed hard and looked out the window. I had pushed these feelings down all day, but saying them aloud just made it all the more real. Half me wanted to crawl into bed and stay there, and the other half was pissed as hell that I had let him effect me this deeply. He had never led me on, had warned me away even. But I hadn't listened. No. Instead, I had fallen in love with him. And now the ache in my chest reminded me with every painful breath the price I'm paying for that mistake.

"Sorry, Steph. I still think he'll come around, he just has his head up his ass at the moment."

I smiled at that, but I refused to believe Tank at this point. "I'm not going to just wait and hold out hope that he'll finally cave and succumb to a relationship with me. If he doesn't want me, then I need to accept that and move on. See? Simple."

Tank gave me a look that said he knew I was lying. My obvious misery, not to mention the tears that I couldn't stop from pooling in my eyes, made it a pretty easy guess. I turned back to the window, trying to compose myself. Thankfully, Tank let it go and flipped on some music.

Because we hit the end of rush-hour, it took over an hour to get to Elizabeth. Tank and I were going to canvass the neighbors around that address.

"Okay, Bomber. We're going to split up. You take the South side of the street. Start directly across from the address in question, and work your way outward. I'll do the same on the North side."

"Got it," I said, grabbing a picture of Jimmy.

I knocked on the first house. A young woman opened the door. She had on an apron, and looked frenzied in a Mary Lou sort of way. I could hear several children screaming behind her.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen this man at the house across the street?" I asked, holding up the picture.

She squinted at it for a minute, but shook her head. "No, I work all day, and deal with the monsters at night. Don't really have time to spy on the neighbors."

I nodded. I could understand that. She yelled back to the screaming kids, mouthed sorry at me, and shut the door in my face.

This was repeated at the second house. Another over-stressed working mom, who didn't have time to pay attention to her neighbors, let alone their guests.

The third house, however, I struck gold. It was an older, retired woman.

"Yes dear, how can I help you?" she said as she opened the door. The mouth-watering aroma of chocolate chip cookies wafted out.

"Hi. I'm looking for this man. Have you seen him at that white house over there?"

She took the picture from me and stared at it. "Yes, yes, I've seen him coming and going for about a week now. Not a good character. He skulks around at all hours of the day and night. Always with a different kind of car too. Very suspicious if you ask me."

I thanked her and dashed off to find Tank. We climbed back in the truck. He said something on the handy little radio.

"Team B, with a report of suspect at address for about a week."

"Team D, no one home yet in this neighborhood."

No one else spoke up on the radio, so I guess those teams were still talking to neighbors. Slowly, each team reports filtered in. No one else had any sightings of Jimmy.

"Hey, we win."

Tank looked at me. "Yeah, we win the first stake out shift since we're already here."

Oh boy.

Tank moved the truck to a more advantageous spot to watch the house, and I settled in to wait. Ten minutes later, I heard a report that Team A was set up to watch the back door.

"Who's team A?"

"Ranger and Lester."

Oh. I couldn't think of anything else to say after that, so we sat in silence for a while. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"So…how's the Flash?"

Tank smiled. I think he likes the little kitten. "He's fine. He chewed holes in the cape and mask, so Lula decided to forgo any future costumes."

"That's probably good."

"I'm still serious about you blabbing your mouth about the kitten's odd attachment to me, Bomber."

"I haven't told a soul, I swear! I'm pretty sure you need to be much more worried about Lula or Connie running their mouths. I know how to keep a secret."

Tank looked a little skeptical at that, but let it go. Silence once again descended on the truck. I sat without fidgeting for almost an hour before I gave up. I only held out from chowing down on the junk food for about then minutes.

After two hours of staring at a house with absolutely no movement, Tank's cell phone rang.

"Talk."

"Right."

That was the entire conversation. These guys really need to work on their phone manners.

"What was that?"

"Changing places around. Security breech at a client. I'm going there, Lester's staying in the back by himself, and Ranger's coming here."

My eyes widened. There was no way in hell I was sitting in a car with Ranger for another two hours. I was about to protest when Tank rolled down his window to reveal the man himself standing there.

Apparently the look on my face was close to sheer panic. "Sorry babe, the guys need to go straight there. They don't have time to take you home. You're stuck with me."

His tone was emotionless, but his eyes were concerned. I nodded jerkily. This was my case. I could be a professional and deal with this. It was only two hours. And besides, I'd decided to move on. Well, I could start that right now.

It'd be easier to believe that if I could pull air into my pounding chest.

Tank slid out of the truck to talk to Ranger, and I used the time alone in the cab to compose myself. If the way my hands were shaking was any indication, it wasn't working. I put my head down between my knees and took deep breaths.

I had just straightened back up when Ranger climbed in the cab of the truck.

"I'm not going to bite, Babe," he said, not missing my pale face or shaking hands.

"I know." I turned to look towards the house, my tone clearly indicating that I was in no mood to chat. What the hell was wrong with me? I tucked my hands under my legs to hide the trembling. It must be the close confines. The past few times I had been alone with Ranger, I had an escape route. There was no getting away from him now.

I took a shaky breath and forced myself not to look over at Ranger. I knew, logically, that I shouldn't be this upset. But my emotions had been on a roller coaster for the past week, ever since that night in our apartment. He didn't want to move forward, and I didn't know how to move backward. My stomach turned violently at the thought of not having Ranger in my life at all, but I didn't know how to fix it at this point so that we could continue our friendship.

My thoughts continued to swirl in my head. I had no idea how long had passed, but I hoped that Ranger was paying attention to the house. I was staring ahead, but I couldn't seem to focus on anything.

Suddenly, Ranger clamped down on my hand with his larger one, pinning it to my leg. "This has to stop."

I stilled immediately, not even aware that I had been fidgeting.

Ranger's thumb started sliding over mine, gently caressing my hand where it was still trapped against my thigh. I stared down at our entwined hands. Rather than be comforting, each pass of his thumb against mine sent an agonizing jolt through me.

Grabbing his hand with my free one, I lifted it off mine. "This has to stop."

He didn't respond, but returned his hand to the steering wheel. His knuckles were turning white with the grip he was holding it.

I could feel his intense gaze on me, and finally turned my head to meet it.

"It's the way it has to be, babe."

"No it's not. It's not the way it has to be at all. It's the way you want it. If you don't want to be with me, then fine. But don't lie about your reasons."

He stared at me. "We've had this conversation before, babe. I can't give you what you want."

"You know, you keep saying that. You seem to have decided exactly what I should feel, exactly what I should want, and exactly what I deserve. You've made all these decisions for me, and left no room in your little equation for my feelings."

"I do know what you deserve. You deserve a home and a family, all those things you're going to want in a few years. Things that I can't give you.

"Bullshit. I deserve someone to love me for who I am. That's it. Someone I can love back. That's what anyone deserves. And how the hell do you know exactly what we're each going to want and be able to give in a few years? Do you have some crystal ball that shows you exactly how our lives are going to develop? What do you know? Maybe you'll go all soft and want seven kids." He snorted at this idea. I continued, undeterred. "Maybe I'll get tired of the sex and move on. Maybe I actually will get chopped into little bits by Jimmy. Maybe we'll just grow apart. Maybe we'll be one of the lucky ones who want the same things at the same time and have adjoining rooms in a nursing home. Who knows?"

"You wouldn't get tired of the sex."

Leave it to a man to pick up that one line. "I know. I just threw that in there to keep you on your toes." I was quite sure that I would never get tired of sex with Ranger. One night almost two years ago, and I still get hot flashes.

"I've told you from the start, babe. My life does not lend itself easily to relationships."

"Can you explain why?"

He looked at me like you would at a slow child, but spelled it out anyway. "I have enemies, babe. Bad enemies that wouldn't hesitate to use you to get to me. I work day and night, without a set schedule. I have contracts I have to fulfill that require me to leave at a moments notice, and be gone for months with no contact. It would unsafe for you, and difficult."

"So what you're saying is that you don't trust me to be able to deal with it? To be able to put up with the risk and the 'difficulties'."

"What I'm saying is that I don't want you hurt."

"What do you think I am now, Ranger? You think I feel good right now? I'm miserable. You're miserable."

"What makes you think I'm miserable?"

I stared at him incredulously. "Ranger, I've had people in the Miami office that I've never met wanting to know what I did to put you in such a terrible mood. You beat up Lester. You called me by my first name, which I have never heard you do before. You actually yelled at me and hit something, again, which I have never seen you do. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as pissy, if not miserable."

He sighed and stared out the windshield. "And a year or two from now, when just love isn't enough anymore, what are you going to be then?"

"I'm not saying I'll never get hurt Ranger. If it doesn't work, then we both move on. We meet other people. But we don't keep wondering what we could have had. We enjoy whatever time we have together and keep the memories go on from there." I had decided to move on with my life, and here I am now trying to change his mind. Pathetic, I know.

"It's not that easy, Babe."

"It's not easy, no. But it's simple. You either love me or you don't. You're willing to take the risk, or your not."

Headlights flashed behind us. Our relief. Ranger continued to stare at me for a moment. Finally, he just shook his head and started the truck, pulling away from the curb and our futile stakeout, and headed back to Trenton.

I feel back in my seat. He wasn't going to change his mind. He had decided what was best for me, and had no intention of doing anything else. And the worst part was that he was probably doing it out of love, out of a genuine desire to see me happy. But for the first time since we had met, he couldn't understand what I needed, and I couldn't convince him what I wanted.

An impasse.

I'm not even sure why I had this discussion with him. Maybe I wouldn't feel so hollow right now if we hadn't just spent an hour rehashing everything that was keeping us apart. I rubbed my hand across my chest and watched the scenery pass by the dark window, trying not to cry. My head hurt for the effort, matching the terrible ache in my heart. It was going to be a long ride back to Trenton.


	16. Chapter 16

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language. _

-------------------------------------------------------

I fell into bed, exhausted both emotionally and physically. It had been a long evening, and I felt no closer to catching Jimmy and getting the hell out of here and back to my life. My heart was weighing heavily in my chest, pulling me down. I desperately needed sleep. I had slept fitfully on the night before on the couch. The nightmares hadn't been bad enough to wake me up, but I had felt the after affects this morning. The blanket Lester had left over me had been kicked to the floor, along with the pillows. I could taste the leftover fear in the back of my mouth, feel the tear tracks on my cheeks and the listlessness in my limbs.

I laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking I would never be able to turn off my swirling thoughts. But I must have fallen into a restless sleep because I woke to see Ranger sitting on the edge of my bed. He had his head leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. It gave me a minute to study his expression in the little bit of light filtering into the room. Usually when I looked at Ranger during the night, his face was relaxed, softened. Younger, even. Tonight he looked defeated. It was not an expression I saw on him often. But I had seen that look cross his face when Julie was missing. Like he knew he was about to lose something vital, and had no idea how to hold onto it.

Seeing him made me realize how much this was hurting him as well.

He turned his head to the side, opening his eyes to look at me.

"Do you love me?" I whispered. Maybe it was the look on his face, or the darkness, that gave me the courage to ask. As he continued to stare at me, I realized I needed far more courage to hear his answer then to ask.

"Yes." He slid down toward me on the bed, wrapping both arms around me. I couldn't look away from the intensity in his dark eyes. "No matter what else, I don't ever want you doubt how much I love you. I just don't know what I can give you."

I took a deep breath. I had to say this, and I was afraid it was going to kill me. But I needed to be able to look back with no regrets. "I need you to know, Ranger, that this is it. When this thing with Jimmy is over and I go home, that's it. I need to move on with my life. I'll do anything for us to stay friends, but I can't stay in this limbo. We're either going to be together or we're not, but this is your only shot."

His eyes slid closed, but his arms tightened around me.

My hand reached out to caress the side of his face. The stubble on his chin was rough against the tips of my fingers.

"I love you."

I had barely whispered the words, but his eyes flew open and stared into mine. He leaned forward and kissed me softly, just barely brushing his lips across mine. He pulled back, looking at me again, and then started to move to get up.

I held on to him as he attempted to untangle his arms from mine. "Stay, please?"

He paused for a second, but then slid back down, pulling me to him. I leaned against his chest, breathing in the scent of bulgari and him. My breath hitched at the though that this might be the last time that I'm this close to him. The last time I sleep in his arms.

I had given him a time limit, but I already knew what the answer was going to be.

---------------------------------------------

I woke up, shaking in fear and swallowing a scream. Ranger was leaning up on an elbow, looking at me with concerned eyes. He had clearly been trying to wake me.

I laid there staring up at him, trying to catch my breath and reorient myself to reality.

He brushed a curl out of my face. "It's okay, Babe. It was just a dream. You're awake now, I'm here."

I closed my eyes, letting his voice wash over me and his words sink in. He laid back down beside me, pulling me close. "What were you dreaming about?"

"Scrog." There was no need to illustrate further. He was there. He knew what had happened, and I'm sure he could figure out exactly which part I was still having nightmares about.

"How long has this been going on?"

I kept my eyes closed. I didn't want to answer, but I knew if I didn't, that he'd keep pushing until he got the truth. "For a few weeks after you got shot. But then they came back after that night in my apartment, when I didn't see you for a week. They've been back since."

I heard him swear under his breath before pressing a kiss to the top of my head. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You weren't exactly answering my calls Ranger. And besides, what was I supposed to say. Please don't be mad at me – be my friend so I can get a good night sleep?"

He didn't say anything to that. Not that there really was anything to say. More of a rhetorical question, really.

"What time is it"

"Quarter of five, babe. Will you be able to go back to sleep?"

I shook my head. My heart had stopped pounding, but there was no way I would be able to rest.

"Babe, about what you said last night…"

I immediately held up my hand in a 'stop' gesture. I may not be able to sleep, but I certainly didn't need to rehash that conversation. I wasn't sure which 'thing' he was referring to – I had said a lot of things last night – but none of them needed to be repeated now.

"I have a better idea. Let's declare a truce."

This just earned me a raised eyebrow, so I plunged on ahead.

"Look, we've re-hashed this and re-hashed this, and we're not getting anywhere. We're both miserable. Why don't we just agree that until this thing with Jimmy is over, we won't discuss it again."

"And then you expect an answer."

I nodded slowly, and continued. "Until then, we can just go back to the way it was before this whole thing started, and before I started blurting out stupid things you didn't want to hear. You're friendship is important to me. I don't want to loose that."

"You won't, Babe."

"So you'll agree to a truce? We'll go back to being friends?"

He nodded. "A truce." He pulled one arm out from under me, spit on his hand, and held it out to shake.

"Eww! You just spit, I'm not touching that!"

Ranger smirked at me. "You wanted the truce."

"I wanted a verbal truce, not one where we had to exchange bodily fluids."

That got me a bigger grin, and I felt my face heat up to several shades of red when I realized what I had said. Not really the thing to say to a man you're laying in bed with at five a.m.

His wolf grin slid into place. "So, does this truce have any rules about sex?"

I shoved him hard, but he just chuckled. That was the Ranger I knew.

My laughter was still a little strained. My heart was still heavy. But we'd get there. If nothing else this morning, I realized that we could go back to being friends. And we could go on, move on. And we'd both be just fine.

He kissed me gently on the cheek. "You gonna be okay alone if I go run?"

"Yeah, I'm going to get up and watch ghostbusters – you know, start out the day right. I should also call my mom and the office. I don't think I can put it off another day."

"All right. I'll see you later. There's a meeting at nine in the conference room." He gave me a soft smile before walking out of my apartment.

-----------------------------------------------

I waited until a decent hour, and then started on the phone calls I had been avoiding. It had only been a day and a half since the ashes were found in my apartment, but I'm sure that it was long enough to have mother ironing the toilet paper.

After an hour of "Yes, mom, I'm fine," and "No, Lula, I'm not sleeping with Ranger," and "Yes, they were cremated bodies" I finally got off the phone. My mother had been less than thrilled to know I was staying here, but I calmed her down by explaining that it was the safest place to be. Finally, I grabbed some breakfast and headed up to the 5th floor.

I made it to the conference room just before nine. Tank and Ranger were standing to one side, discussing something. Lester was shoveling a donut into his mouth. Bobby jumped up and came over to me.

"Hey Bomber. Looks like I'm your partner in crime today."

"Hey Bobby, sounds good," I said, grinning at him.

"Maybe you should leave her alone, Brown. Bombshell gets into enough trouble all on her own. She doesn't need you hanging around." Lester had jumped in before he finished chewing his donut, so crumbs were being spewed as he said this.

"Better than her spending the day riding around with you hitting on her the whole time."

Ranger's head flipped around at Bobby's remark. Everyone else in the room, me included, just cracked up laughing. He didn't look nearly as amused.

I walked over to Lester, who was closely guarding his last donut. I was pretty sure, after the night I'd had, that I deserved that donut more than he did.

"Trade you that donut for a kiss." I batted my eyelashes, using the same skills I use on distraction jobs. Works every time.

"The things you can make a man do, Bombshell," he said, handing me the donut. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips.

I leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and had half the donut in my mouth before he had his eyes back open.

He jumped up, grabbing at the remaining half of the donut in my hands. "Hey, that was my last donut! I at least deserve some tongue for that."

I held the donut above my head, trying to explain that I needed it through a very full mouth. It all came out as "muummgh mugggh ummhum."

"Hey Bobby, grab her arms. I'll bet if I tickle her she'll drop the donut." Lester immediately started tickling my ribcage. I was cracking up laughing, but trying not to spray donut crumbs. Bobby was holding the arm without the donut above my head, so I was trying to hit Lester with the hand holding the donut, without actually dropping the donut or handing it over.

"Santos, Brown!"

We all three froze. I had never heard Ranger yell that loud. God, he could have been a drill sergeant. Lester and Bobby immediately let go of me and dropped into their chairs. I slowly slid down into a chair in between them. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or apologize, but I couldn't do either without choking on the donut in my mouth. Ranger was staring at Lester as if he could drill holes straight through him. I was tempted to spill every secret I'd ever kept, and the look wasn't even directed at me. Guess I spoke to soon when I said that Ranger's looks couldn't intimidate me anymore.

I discreetly glanced at the guys on either side of me. They were quiet now, but they were trying unsuccessfully to hide their amusement. I only barely managed to contain any giggles that wanted to escape.

As everyone else filtered in, Ranger finally started the meeting with a final glare thrown toward Lester and Bobby.

"Each team report."

"No sign of skip on first shift, front or back," Tank said, answering for himself, Lester, and me.

"No sign of him second shift either, but we did see the resident arrive home alone at 21:30," Cal said.

"No sign on third shift, and no reports of sightings so far this morning." This came from Hal. I guess he was the unlucky one who had just gotten back from the pre-dawn shift.

"So he spent the night somewhere else, and may have moved on." Everyone nodded at Ranger's assessment.

"Steph, get ahold of Morelli and find out if he found any other accomplices from his juvie record, if he was able to get it. Mac, go back to searching for any accomplices we might have missed, along with activity on that cell he used yesterday, his mother's phone, and the phone registered to the address in Elizabeth. Bobby, you're with Steph today. Everyone else, keep up the surveillance schedule. If he doesn't show by 0800 tomorrow, we'll assume he moved on and end surveillance there."

We all nodded at our assignments and filed out of the room.

Just before I made it out, Ranger spoke again.

"Santos, head for the gym and meet me there."

Uh oh. I swung around to see if Lester was mad at me, but he just winked. "It's okay, Bomber, I can take him."

I wasn't to sure of that, but I nodded and smiled sympathetically. I felt bad for Lester, but he did demand tongue in front of Ranger. Not overly smart given his current mood. Then again, I did start it. About that time, Ranger appeared behind me, placing his hand on the small of my back.

He leaned forward until his breath tickled the back of my ear. "Next time you need a donut, babe, maybe you should ask me. I can put that tongue of yours to much better use than Lester can."

I whipped around to see his face. His eyes were dark and smoldering.

"Oh my god, Lester was right. You are jealous!"

His eyes took on a dangerous gleam, and he pulled me back into the conference room everyone else had just vacated.

"You've been talking to my men about us, Babe?"

"No! They corner me. Every chance they get, one of them is freaking interrogating me. 'You gonna hook up with the boss, Bomber?' 'If you don't want the boss, do you wanna go out with me?' 'Why haven't you and the boss hooked up yet, Bombshell? You draggin your feet?' I swear, Lester thinks that if he makes you jealous, you'll fall to your knees and propose. He's not really hitting on me."

Ranger looked thunderstruck at this information. I'm pretty sure he was not happy that his tightly run operation had as much gossip running through it as the Burg. "And what exactly do you tell them?"

"I try not to say anything, other than 'we're not and will not be together, now shut up.' And then someone usually gets slapped on the back of the head."

He gave me his patented almost-smile at this. I'm sure he was used to seeing Bobby and Lester together, and the stupidity it brings out. "I may have to straighten a few people out."

"Ranger, you can not go around beating people up just because they're curious what's going on." What is it with this place and beating up on each other all the time? They need to find a new way to resolve their conflicts. "Besides, Tank is the only one who actually knows anything. The rest of the guys are just snooping."

He did not look any calmer at this information. "Why does Tank know anything?"

"I assume because he knows you." This was starting to get ridiculous. It's not like I go around blabbing my mouth to all the Merry Men that Ranger doesn't want me. I have some level of self-control here.

"And since Tank knows me so well, what's his assessment of the situation?"

Hmm. Ranger does sarcasm.

"He thinks you're in love with me, but that you have your head up your ass. And he thinks that if I give you your space you'll come around. Obviously, he doesn't know you as well as he thinks he does." My voice had taken on a distinctly prissy tone that had Ranger smirking at me. I guess amusement at my expense calmed him. Glad to be of service.

Ranger directed me back toward the door. "I'm still going to have to have a talk with that man. You and Bobby catching skips today?"

"Yeah, I have a couple that the time's about to expire on."

"Okay. Not much we can do about Jimmy today, except watching that house in Elizabeth and looking for other accomplices. Just keep your guard up in case. You dressed?"

I nodded. With the time in the gun range with the guys I had started getting more comfortable with my gun. I was never going to enjoy carrying it, but I figure any time I have a stalker on the loose is a good time to step out of my comfort zone. Granted, the gun was still in my purse, but it was a step up from the cookie jar.

I saw Bobby in the control room and headed that way. Our of the corner of my eye, I saw Ranger grab Lester by the arm and drag him toward the stairs. I had a feeling I was going to owe him an apology tomorrow.

-----------------------------------------------

Bobby and I started with my hardest skip. Earl Connelly was a 300lb man arrested for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and assault. Basically, he was at a bar, got drunk, and started smacking his wife around in front of a cop.

I normally wouldn't have gotten him, but since Ranger had had a man on me for two weeks now, I was starting to get some of the higher skips. And this one had to be apprehended today. Seeing as how this skip was large, mean, and probably drunk, I had a feeling that Bobby was going to be doing all the apprehending. I was happy to provide moral support.

I knocked on the door, while Bobby stood to the side with his gun drawn. Mr. Connelly's wife answered the door, covered in fresh bruises. A young boy, probably around four, was hiding behind her. I could hear old Earl yelling in the background, so I spoke softly to Mrs. Connelly.

"We're here to take your husband back to jail. We'll try to stop him from being bonded out, but I can't guarantee it. Can you go somewhere else for an hour or so?"

She nodded quickly.

"Okay. Here's my card with my cell number on it. Call me in an hour, and I'll let you know if he's staying in jail or being bonded back out."

"Thanks," she said, grabbing the car. She and the kid ducked out and ran to a neighbor's house. The neighbor woman took one look at us and grabbed them, pulled them inside and slammed the door. Mrs. Connelly never looked back. Smart woman.

I drew my gun and nodded at Bobby, who headed in with me trailing behind.

"Earl Connelly," Bobby yelled out. "Fugitive apprehension agents. We're coming in Mr. Connelly."

We heard heavy footsteps lumbering up the steps, the narrow staircase groaning in protest. Bobby and I headed for the base of the stairs, only to be greeted with Earl standing at the top aiming a handgun at us.

"Drop the weapon, Mr. Connelly. You're in violation of your bond. We're here to take you to the station to get re-booked."

Bobby spoke calmly, without ever taking his eyes of Earl. I was impressed. As he spoke, he continued taking steps toward the skip. I watched, fascinated, as Earl took a step backward with each step Bobby took forward.

It was one of those moments like a train wreck. You know, when you know exactly what's coming next but can't stop it. Well, I could have stopped it, I just didn't bother.

Earl was taking backward steps on a small landing at the top of the stairs. What I could see that poor Mr. Connelly could not, was that his son had left a big Tonka truck sitting right there.

"Drop the weapon, Mr. Connelly," Bobby said again.

"Never. Get out of my house. You have no right to be here."

His words were tough, but he took that final step back. The one that landed him right on the Tonka truck. The truck rolled under his weight, and he went flying in the air.

The gun sailed out of his hand, traveling in a wide arch, and landed directly at my feet.

Well, that was easy. I grabbed it and shoved it in my waist band.

Mr. Connelly landed on his butt on the top step. But because his weight was unbalanced, he started sliding. Now gun-less and unarmed, he continued sliding until he landed directly at Bobby's feet.

"Somehow, I don't think that's what he had planned," I said.

Bobby grinned at me as he grabbed Earl's arms to cuff him. "Come on, Bombshell. I thought all your skips just landed at your feet. Your good looks and charms and all."

I glared at Bobby who just laughed.

He yanked Earl to his feet and pushed him toward the door.

"Hey, you can't do this. You're not cops. I know my rights. You can't just come in my home and drag me out! I have rights here. I'm going to sue you. You made me fall down those stairs. And give me my gun back."

"Uh uh, Mr. Connelly," I said. "I'm sure the police will be quite interested to know weather or not this gun is registered when we get to the station."

We continued to listen to Earl yammer all the way to the truck. Bobby had just opened the back door when I noticed something under the front windshield.

Shit. I had a suspicion I knew exactly who that was from. I lunged for it before Bobby noticed it. But the second I realized what I was holding I sank down onto the sidewalk with a hard thud.

"Bomber?" Bobby asked, looking down at me. He got Earl secured and sat down next to me, grabbing the photograph from my hand.

He barely glanced at it before yanking me up by the arm and shoving me onto the floorboard of the front seat of the truck. He jumped in over me, started it the truck, and took off before I could realize what he was doing.

Two blocks later, he told me I could sit up in my seat. I did, and promptly put my head between my knees to gasp in air and drive away the little black spots. I kept my eyes wide open, though, because every time I let them slide closed, all I could see was that polaroid of me standing on the porch talking to Anna Connelly, with a big red X drawn over my chest.


	17. Chapter 17

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language._

--------------------------------------------

_Two blocks later, he told me I could sit up in my seat. I did, and promptly put my head between my knees to gasp in air and drive away the little black spots. I kept my eyes wide open, though, because every time I let them slide closed, all I could see was that polaroid of me standing on the porch talking to Anna Connelly, with a big red X drawn over my chest. _

----------------------------------------------

After a few more blocks, I finally able to take a steady breath.

"You all right, Bombshell?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. And thanks for shoving me back there. That was comfortable. It's only a picture, you know." So I was being testy. I knew it, but I was too freaked out to care.

"Bomber, if he was lined up for that picture, he was lined up for a shot. A sore shoulder is better than a bullet."

Well, I guess if you put it that way….

Another block, and the incessant yammering from the back seat sunk in. "I got rights you know. This is an outrage. This isn't even the way to the police station. This is kidnapping. You have to take me to the police station."

"Oh good god, just shut up!" Of course he didn't, so I grabbed my stun gun off my belt and shut him up myself.

Bobby just raised an eyebrow at me.

"He was annoying me."

"Yeah, I see that," he said, casting a look at Earl's still twitching body.

He focused back on his driving and within seconds we were rushing through the gate into the garage on Haywood. Ranger, Tank, Lester and several other guys were standing there waiting for us. I guess Bobby driving like a bat out of hell didn't escape their attention on the GPS monitors.

Bobby hopped out and handed the picture to Ranger. He gave it a glance and handed it to Tank, and immediately came around to where I was still sitting

"You okay, Babe?"

I nodded as he gently tucked a curl behind my ear. He pressed a kiss into my temple before glancing into the back seat at Earl's prone figure. "That your skip?"

"Yeah."

His mouth turned up in a smile. "What happened to him?"

"I was annoyed."

This earned me a full out laugh. "Hey Lester, take this truck, and get the skip to the police station before he wakes up."

Ranger pulled me out of the cab of the truck and into his arms. I grabbed Lester's arm as he started to climb in. "Make sure he doesn't get bonded back out. His wife looked pretty beat-up, I told her I'd try to keep him in."

Lester nodded, throwing a dark look toward Earl before driving off. I stayed curled up against Ranger's chest for a few more minutes, enjoying the feeling of being safe.

"Okay," I finally said, pulling back. "I'm good now. Sorry to overreact, it just surprised me."

Ranger just raised an eyebrow at me. "You didn't overreact, babe."

"Well, either way, I'm pissed as hell now. I mean, a polaroid? How clichéd is that? The whole 'I could get you if I really wanted to but I'm just toying with you' kind of message. Well, not if I have anything to say about it, bucko. When I'm done with him, the only messages he's going to be sending will be notes written on toilet paper passed through the bars of his cell!"

I stopped ranting to realize that every Merry Man in the garage was staring at me with an open mouth. Tank was almost doubled over trying to contain his laughter. Ranger was just calmly waiting for me to finish, his almost smile firmly in place.

"I'm done," I said to him. He just nodded and pulled on my hand to lead me to the elevator.

"Core team meeting in the conference room when Lester gets back," he announced to the room at large before the elevator closed.

"Sorry for my little spiel back there."

"No need to be sorry, babe. We enjoy seeing you all riled up."

"Well, glad to fulfill my entertainment quota for the day." I was a little embarrassed by this time at my behavior. But oh well. It's not every day I get a death threat. I'm allowed a little hysterics. But then again, with my life I should probably be used to the threats by now.

I stopped by my apartment on the fourth floor, telling Ranger I would be up in the conference room in twenty minutes. I figured I had at least that long before Lester made it back from the station. And I knew we would all be better off if I found some chocolate.

Mac was just dropping off a file with Ranger when I entered the conference room.

"Phone logs," he said, noticing my curiosity.

I nodded, assuming that he would explain more once everyone was here. Bobby and Tank were already seated.

"You doing okay, Bombshell?" Tank asked.

"Me? Yeah, I'm good. Great. No problems here."

"Donut or chocolate cake, Babe?" Everyone laughed as I haughtily answered that I had had some of Ella's devilfood cake.

But all laughter ground to a halt as Lester walked into the room, followed by none other than Detectives Morelli and Jacobs.

Ranger gave Lester a hard look, and rose to his feet.

"Morelli."

"Manoso."

"What can we do for you, Detective?"

"Got some information from Clark's juvie record. Also heard that Steph got another message from him? Figured we could just all do this at once."

Ranger stared at Morelli for a minute, blank face intact. Finally he nodded and motioned for both detectives to have a seat. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding as they all sank into their chairs without further incident.

"Steph, how are you holding up."

"Great. I'm fine."

Joe smirked at me. "Donuts?"

"Geez, am I that predictable?" I muttered, and everyone laughed. As much as I hated being the amusement for the day, I was relieved that the tension in the room had plummeted.

"All right," Ranger said, trying to regain order over his meeting. "Morelli, what do you have for us?"

"An accomplice from Clark's juvie days. Now residing in Newark. Might be a long shot, but…" He slid a file over to Ranger.

Ranger stood and stuck his head out the door. "Mac, run this address and phone number through the phone records you pulled earlier." He handed the file to Mac, and sat back down.

"Okay, what we generally know from the phone records is that he's still in contact with both his mother and his army buddy in Elizabeth – Anthony Klostermier. He hasn't been spotted back at Klostermier's since we started surveillance. Looks like he switched to a new pre-paid cell after calling Steph – it's the one number that called both his mom and Klostermier. He got it at the same store, so lets get somebody up there to pass out his picture. Mac has a trace going on the new phone, but it's currently turned off."

Ranger stopped when Mac came back into the room. "Yeah. Clark called him yesterday from the current pre-paid cell."

"The friend from juvie?" I asked. Information was starting to swirl, and I was struggling to keep up with it.

"Yeah, Dawson. And he just turned the cell on. Working on getting a location."

My cell phone rang as Mac started to leave the room. He stopped and looked at me.

"Uh, what was the number of that cell phone he's using?" I wasn't positive it was Jimmy, but it was definitely an unfamiliar Newark number.

Ranger grabbed my phone and put it on a speaker-thingy in the middle of the table. He looked at me, waiting for my nod, before connecting the call.

"Hello?" Was my voice really that squeaky? I was pissed, not scared.

"Stephanie. That was very nice of you to get Mrs. Connelly out of the way today."

"Jimmy. What do you want?" There, that was that tough voice I wanted. I sounded firm, like I wasn't going to be pushed around.

"I just wanted to see if you enjoyed my picture. That's all. I'll be seeing you, Stephanie."

He disconnected, and I couldn't help the shiver that ripped through me. Ranger came to stand behind me, resting a hand reassuringly on my shoulder, as Mac dashed out of the room to trace the call.

Ranger leaned over me, until he was close enough that no one else in the room could hear his whispered words. "You okay, Babe?"

"Yep. I'm fine. Still pissed as hell. Ella's cake will hold me over for a while."

He chuckled, pressing his lips against my temple. "That's my girl."

He straightened up, and I glanced around the table to see if I had embarrassed myself again. Everyone looked sympathetic, except Joe. Joe looked down right thunderstruck. Ranger's last words had been just loud enough for him to hear. I realized that he didn't usually see Ranger and I interact, and it had to have been surprising, to say the least.

He glanced away from me, and cleared his throat before speaking. "Anybody want to tell me about this picture?"

Ranger walked back around to where he had been sitting. He slid the picture across the table to Joe. "This was taken while Steph and Bobby were getting a skip today, and left on the truck.

I could almost see Joe's cop face slam into place as he looked at the picture.

"How long were you inside?"

"Four minutes, tops," Bobby replied.

"Jesus, cupcake," he said, finally looking up at me. "Were you even wearing a vest?"

"I'm fine, Joe. It's just a picture."

"It's not just a picture. He was right there!"

I opened my mouth to give him a smart retort, but Mac returned, interrupting me.

"We didn't get an exact location, but it's the general neighborhood of Dawson's address."

"Great. Maybe he'll stay there for a while. Let's go."

All the guys jumped up at Ranger's words. I stood too. No way were they leaving me here while they went and nabbed him.

"Babe, you're staying here. You're not to leave this building for any reason until I call you."

"What? No! I'm going too. It's my skip."

"Babe, this guy is gunning for you. You're staying here, where you're safe. I have no problem making you stay here forcibly."

"But you know where he is now. I am safe. I can go too!"

"Stephanie, you're staying here. That's final."

I was fuming, but I also knew from the look on Ranger's face that he wasn't budging. Joe was watching us, looking much more amused at our interaction than he did a minute ago. I'm sure he was relieved that I didn't blindly follow orders from Ranger any better than I had from him.

Ranger looked over to where Joe and Detective Jacobs had also stood. "If you two are coming, we're doing this our way. We still have the apprehension papers."

"Fine. But we have a warrant as well, so there shouldn't be any problems holding him," Joe said.

With that they were all gone, after a flurry guns and swat gear was thrown around, leaving me alone in the conference room.

I headed a floor down to my apartment, still fuming. How dare he demand I stay put. And Joe? Standing there looking all smug. They were both jerks. My thoughts continued in this vein as I started packing. If they had Jimmy, I could go home, at least. Then I wouldn't have to put up with all the macho bullshit from either of them. Jerks! I swear, when this is over, I'm going to start dating an accountant. A nice guy who doesn't command me around or tell me to stay put.

I spent an hour and a half throwing things into bags. I would have been able to do it faster, but I kept pausing to throw things against the wall. What can I say, it made me feel better. Finally, I plopped down on the couch to wait for Ranger's call. By my calculations, they should either have him by now, or know that he was gone.

Sure enough, the phone rang five minutes later.

"Yo."

"Hey babe. He's not here. We'll be back in about an hour. Stay there until I get there."

"Fine," I ground out, before disconnecting. Take that, Batman.

I sat there trying to come up with an escape route. No way was I just waiting for him like an obedient puppy.

It took me twenty minutes to come up with a decent plan, but it just might work.

I called my dad, explaining that I needed a getaway. If he had known my entire plan, he may have been a bit more hesitant. But he agreed to be parked at the deli down the street in exactly 20 minutes.

Next, I packed a small bag, and headed for the gun range in the basement. For exactly 18 minutes, I shot at paper targets, and tried to act normal for the camera. My hands were starting to sweat as I held the gun, but I stuck to my plan. Timing it carefully, I headed for the elevator.

Here's where my plan started to get tricky. I pushed the buttons for the 4th floor and the garage at the same time, hoping that no one in the control room was watching me closely enough to notice.

The second the elevator doors dinged on the garage level, I bolted. I ran as fast as I could across the garage toward the street, barely slowing to duck under the arm barring admittance. I kept sprinting, relieved to see my dad a block down, waiting with the car running. I hopped in and he took off, burning rubber. I watched out the back window for a tail, but surprisingly enough, I didn't see anyone come tearing out of the garage.

"Is there anyone chasing us?" Dad asked.

"Nope, we're in the clear. Thanks for this, I really appreciate it."

"Sure. I needed out of the house anyway. Your crazy grandmother stole my remote. I can't find it anywhere. So where are we headed?"

"Do you think I could borrow your car for a while? Just for a few hours. I can drop you off at home and rush off before they think to look there."

"Sure, that's fine. Uh, are we running away from the good guys or the bad guys?"

"The good guys," I answered as we pulled up in front of the house. "I just needed some space. Thanks Dad."

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and slid over to the driver's side as he exited. Just as I turned the corner, I caught sight of a big black SUV appear at the other end of the street. I was pretty sure I got fully turned before they spotted me.

I quickly headed for Route 1 while checking my rearview mirrors for a tail. Those driving lessons Bobby had been giving me were coming in handy. After twenty minutes I finally relaxed. I had done it. I escaped the Merry Men. I had left my cell phone in the apartment, assuming that if had all Ranger's nifty devices on it, that it would also have tracking capabilities. I had carefully thought through everything I had on me, but I couldn't think of anything else he could use to track me.

With my escape complete, I needed a new plan. A what-do-I-do-next kind of plan. Leaving so quickly had left little time to think through that part of the plan. I was still mulling over what to do next when I spotted a McDonalds. Aha. If I was going to come up with a way to catch Jimmy on my own, then fast food was a necessity.

As I sat under the golden arches munching on french fries, I started to think that maybe this hadn't been the smartest idea I had every come up with. We had talked to or staked out every friend, family member, neighbor and accomplice that Jimmy had. If anyone knew where he was or where he was going next, they weren't talking.

Well, if I couldn't get information on where he was going, I could always back up and go back over where he had been. Maybe some new clues would pop up. He had been to the cell phone store in Newark several times, but Ranger was going to check that place out. I could go to Dawson's house, where his last call came from, but chances are that Ranger had left a team there to stake out his place.

That left the house in Elizabeth – the army buddy that Jimmy had been staying with. I was almost sure that Ranger had called off the surveillance on that house, after getting confirmation that Jimmy had moved on.

Maybe good old Anthony Klostermier would be willing to talk to me, or might know where Jimmy was headed next. Luckily, I remembered the house. A four hour stake-out will do that to you.

Because I was ahead of rush-hour, I made it in just under and hour. The door was wrenched open immediately when I knocked.

"What?"

"Anthony Klostermier?"

"Yeah. What?"

Nothing like manners. "I'm looking for Jimmy Clark. He's been stalking me."

"You the little white girl he kept yammering about?"

"Uhh, um…" What was the polite response to that? Then again, this was my life we were talking about here. "More than likely."

Klostermier nodded. "Good luck. He's really got it out for you. Kept going on and on about how you were trying to capture him."

"Great. Have you seen him?"

"Nah. Not in couple days."

He got a funny look on his face at that. Like he was trying to decide if he should keep talking or not. "Is there anything you know that might help me?"

"You know that rat-bastard took all my money?"

"No, I didn't know that. That must be annoying."

"Yeah, it was annoying. I let the man stay here, and that's how he repays me! Rat bastard."

"So…any idea where he took off to with that money."

"Yeah. He might have went out to my father's place in Manasquan."

My eyes almost popped out of my head. "Wait, you know where he is?" This kind of stuff never happened to me. No one ever just told me things.

"I said he might. The guy's crazy. No telling what he'll do. But he talked about going there."

"Okay. You have the address?"

He nodded and headed inside to get it for me. I couldn't believe it. I might have found Jimmy. All by myself. Well, Ranger had found this address in the first place, but there was no need to dwell on that now.

I tried to calm my nerves as I headed for Klostermier's old man's beach house. I may talk a big game escaping the Merry Men, but I had no intention of trying to take on Jimmy by myself. This was the same man who had pistol-whipped me in the back of the head, gave me poisoned perfume, and covered my apartment in cremated body parts.

But there wouldn't be in harm in staking out the beach house for a while before calling Ranger, right? Just to be sure.

I drove past the beach house an hour and a half later. There were no obvious signs of life. I found a spot a few houses down, and settled in to wait. Since I had no other clues, I prepared myself for a long wait. If Jimmy didn't show up here, I was going to have to come up with a new plan. No way was I just heading back to Haywood with nothing to show for it.

After two hours, I started to doze off. My emotional night, followed by a nightmare and waking up before 5 am was quickly catching up with me.

Falling asleep on a stake out was certainly not the smartest decision I ever made. Escaping from Ranger, making sure that he had absolutely no way to trace me was another of those decisions. But baiting Jimmy Clark, knowing that he had threatened to shoot me through the heart earlier that day, was probably the stupidest.

That thought was confirmed when I woke up, in the bathroom of Mr. Klostermier's beach house, hog tied and laying in the bathtub.


	18. Chapter 18

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language._

-----------------------------------------------------

_Falling asleep on a stake out was certainly not the smartest decision I ever made. Escaping from Ranger, making sure that he had absolutely no way to trace me was another of those decisions. But baiting Jimmy Clark, knowing that he had threatened to shoot me through the heart earlier that day, was probably the stupidest. _

_That thought was confirmed when I woke up, in the bathroom of Mr. Klostermier's beach house, hog tied and laying in the bathtub._

-------------------------------------------------------

Why did things like this never happen to other people? Shit like this always happened to me. Mrs. Kalsowski's daughter Sue would never wake up hog tied in a bathtub. In fact, no one I or my mother knew would ever be dumb enough to end up in a situation like this.

I hadn't even been all the way asleep. But I was just drowsy enough that I didn't notice Jimmy until he was standing next to the car door. Then again, even if I had noticed him earlier, I still wouldn't have been able to escape the baseball bat he swung, shattering my window. Or the stun gun he used to knock me out, apparently in order to carry me to his bathroom. My stun gun, by the way.

And now here I was, horribly uncomfortable, really having to pee (I had been on a three hour stake out when the abduction occurred), stuck in this moldy, smelly bathroom (oh the irony), with no chance of rescue. Because I had carefully, very carefully, made sure that Ranger had absolutely no way to trace me.

Not the smartest day in the life of Stephanie Plum.

My earlier pride at finding Jimmy all by myself was certainly gone now, replaced by a screaming pain in my right calf and the increasing pressure of my bladder. But nothing could convince me to wet myself. I had to maintain some level of dignity here.

As soon as I started wiggling, I realized that poor Jimmy wasn't nearly as smart as he thought he was. It seemed that the rope connecting my feet to my hands was almost long enough for me to stretch out to my full length. After another ten minutes of wiggling and squirming, I was able to sit up in an awkward half-squat. Progress! But the only way out of the tub, was to dive headfirst. If it hadn't been for my bladder and my desire for my jeans to remain urine-free, I wouldn't have considered it.

But given the situation, I did what any Jersey girl would have done, and somersaulted over the edge of the tub, landing in a heap on the floor. I managed to squat down in a tiny ball, which brought my bound hands in contact with the knots tying my ankles behind me. There was a full length mirror on the back of the door. After some inventive moving around, I had my back to the mirror, and could look over my shoulder at the knots. It took a while, what with the images being backwards and all, but I got my feet unbound.

I curled up in a ball again, long enough to step through my bound hands and get them in front of me. Which, of course, allowed me to unsnap my jeans and pee.

With that accomplished, I realized I should probably start thinking of a plan for what to do when Jimmy came back.

I didn't have a weapon, and I couldn't untie my hands, so going out there and confronting him was quickly knocked off the list of potential plans. I couldn't really break a mirror without him hearing, but it would provide a good weapon in a pinch.

I set out to search through the bathroom. I came up with two combs, three picks, a jar of afro gel (this for a man with the last name of Klostermier), a hair dryer, two curling irons, and an electric razor. Damn, not even a blade I could pull of the razor. No scissors to undo the ropes. And no weapons.

I climbed back into the bathtub, arranging the ropes to look like I was still tied. I began plotting my escape from there, hoping that Jimmy wouldn't notice my untied feet if he came back in.

Two hours later, I still hadn't come up with a plan or a weapon, but I had been able to pee again with significantly less effort. There was a lesson to be had in here about how much coffee you should drink on a stake out.

It had been after eight when Jimmy snatched me, so by my calculations, it was after ten by now. My best bet was probably to wait a few more hours, until I was sure he was asleep, and then just sneak out. That way I could find a phone and call Ranger. Well, first I'd have to get my hands untied. Using a payphone could be awkward in my current state.

I tried to stay awake by recounting all the ways Ranger was a jerk. He told me what to do, he toyed with my emotions…hmm that hadn't taken nearly as long as I thought it would. So then I started thinking of all the ways he was a really great guy. But that was just depressing. It also made me feel more than a little guilty about running away from him, when clearly he only had my safety in mind.

Just when I thought I couldn't stay awake anymore, I heard voices from the main part of the house. I easily identified Jimmy's voice. The other I couldn't place, but for some reason it seemed familiar.

"Hey man, what are you doing here?"

"Hey, Jimmy, how's it going man?"

"Going well, very well. Better than it's gone in a long time." I was positive this was Jimmy speaking.

"Hey that's great man. Did you ever find that girl you're looking for?"

"Yeah, I sure did. She's tied up in the bathroom now. Just trying to decide what to do with her."

"Hey man, that's great. Congrats."

Congrats? Who says congrats when they find out their friend has a kidnap victim tied up in the other room? The familiarity of the voice was starting to irk me, but I still couldn't quite place it.

"So…what do you think you're going to do with her?" This came again from the weird guy who said 'congrats.'

"Dunno, man. I need to kill her, just trying to decide what to do with the body."

"Yeah, bodies are tricky. Chopping it up is best. She already in the tub? That could make it easy."

Little black spots started swimming in front of my eyes when I heard this. I may need to revisit the usefulness of afro gel as a weapon. No way was I letting this guy actually chop me into little bits.

I tried to gasp for enough air to not pass out, and listened to the rest of the conversation. I needed a time table for the upcoming bloodbath so I could be prepared.

"Hey, man, why don't you go to the store and get some trash bags and duct tape so we can get her out of here. I'll keep an eye on the place and make sure she doesn't escape."

"Yeah, yeah that's smart. I'll do that. Should I get anything else?"

"Nah, I'm pretty sure my dad has a chainsaw in the shed. We can use that. Oh, maybe a couple rolls of paper towels, and some bleach. Yeah, that'll do it."

His dad? Oh my god it's Anthony Klostermier. That's why the voice sounded familiar. That fucker sold me out! Ohh, I was pissed. He was going to be in here alone once Jimmy left, and he was going to pay.

"Okay, man. See ya in a few." With that, keys rattled and the door slammed. Okay Anthony, here we go.

I jumped out of the tub, and hid behind the door, assuming that he would come directly in here. The sound of approaching footsteps confirmed it.

I held my breath as the door handle turned. He opened it all the way, inadvertently hiding me behind it.

"What the hell? Where'd she go?"

That was my cue. I shoved the door as hard as I could, right into poor Anthony's nose. He screamed and fell back into the hallway.

I dashed around the door and pounced on him where he lay on the ground. He grunted, and attempted to get me off of him while holding his nose.

"You prick! You sent me here, and are now helping him kill me? I don't think so, psycho. No one is being chopped up tonight, especially not me."

"Uggh….I'm not….wait…..bitch!"

The last part was screamed as I caught him in the side with my boot.

As I started to draw back again, he finally managed to speak. "Wait…I'm here…to save you."

"What?"

"I already called….the cops. They're on the way. I sent…Jimmy…to the store so I could get you out of here."

All this was said while gasping for air and trying to staunch the blood still pouring from his face.

"You already called the cops?"

I was set to not believe him, and to just keep kicking him, but I could already hear the sirens in the distance.

"Oh shit."

"Yeah, bitch. I came here to save you, and you kick the shit out me. That would have been a nice right hook if you're hands hadn't been tied together, by the way."

Um, yeah I could thank Tank for that one. As I considered the bloody mess underneath me, I realized those self-defense classes were paying off nicely.

I looked up as I heard the front door shatter. Cops came pouring in, guns drawn, yelling all those things you hear on Law and Order.

Two cops grabbed me and lifted me to my feet. There was some confusion as to who has the kidnapper and who was the kidnappee, since Anthony was covered in blood and I was still tied up at the wrists with rope dangling everywhere.

Just as we cleared up that the actual kidnapper was at the store, Ranger burst in, followed quickly by Tank, Bobby and Lester. Joe and Det. Jacobs were only a step behind them.

Ranger walked over to me, his face completely blank, and looked me over from head to toe. I could almost feel the anger radiating off of him. In that moment, I realized how selfish it had been of me to run away, to put him through hours of searching and wondering, only to find me like this.

He roughly grabbed my arms in front of me, and used his knife to cut the ropes off. When he saw the bruises and burns on my wrists from where they had been tied, his expression eased, allowing me to read his emotions. The mix of concern and relief and anger in his eyes was my undoing. I burst into tears for the first time since Jimmy grabbed me.

Ranger immediately pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me, weaving one hand through my hair. He used the other hand to rub my back, pressing me against him as tight as he could, while I continued to cry into his shoulder.

"You're okay, Babe. It's all over now, I've got you." He continued talking, saying soothing things over and over, until my tears were spent.

"I'm sorry." I looked up at him. We were still so tightly together our faces were almost touching. "I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry."

"You managed to escape all my men, and then find the guy in a matter of hours. When we had searched for days" Ranger's voice was dry, but held a certain amount of grudging respect.

Ranger pressed a kiss to my forehead, and then rested his own there. "Why'd you run away from me, Steph?"

The hoarseness in his whispered words made my eyes immediately fill with tears again. I kept my eyes downcast, ashamed at my immaturity.

"Hey." He tucked a finger under my chin, pulling my head up and forcing my eyes to his. "Why?"

"You were being an arrogant asshole." Somehow my tears made the words lose their usual punch.

His lips tipped up at my explanation. "Knew there'd be a good reason, babe. But for the record, I was trying to keep you safe."

"By leaving me out. By taking away my choices and locking me up."

He studied me for a minute, but finally nodded. "All right. Next time we'll find a different way."

"Next time?"

He smiled. "Babe. I'm sure you'll manage to get yourself into a similar situation soon enough."

Had I not still been tucked so tightly against him, I would have found a way to smack him. As it was, I just used my finger tips to push on his chest. The only reaction I got was a chuckle.

"Come on, Babe. The cops need your statement. Besides, I'm sure Morelli wants a crack at you. I've never seen an Italian man turn as white as he did when he got the call. Although I'm starting to understand his need for malox."

This time, he had untangled me from his arms just far enough that I could smack him in the chest. He caught my hand easily, and kissed my fingertips, grinning at me.

"Come on," he said, tugging on my hand and leading me towards the local cops.

It took two hours to straighten it all out. They had to take Anthony to the hospital to re-set his broken nose. I felt bad, but he did say he was going to chop me up with a chain saw. How did he think I was going to react?

Ranger came up behind me, while I was watching the paramedics load Anthony into the ambulance. "How much of that damage was your doing?"

"All of it." I knew I shouldn't sound so smug, but I couldn't help feeling a little proud of how well I had defended myself. Even if it was against my rescuer.

"Proud of you, babe," Ranger said, pressing a kiss into my curls.

I gave him a bright smile. "And that was all with my hands tied."

Ranger laughed full-out. "I always knew you had it in you."

I saw Joe approaching over Ranger's shoulder. Ranger nodded at him, and then with a final kiss to my temple, stepped away. I wasn't sure if I should be thankful for the privacy, or call him back to forestall any yelling Joe had saved up.

But he started before I could decide. "You okay, Cucpake?"

"Yeah, Joe. I'll be fine."

"How are your wrists?"

"They're fine." The paramedics had cleaned them up and taped them. They still stung, but not as bad now.

"Ranger seemed really angry, you know. I was standing there when they told him you'd escaped. I've never seen that much of a reaction from him."

"I know. I assumed he was upset." Though he had to have been more angry than I thought if he let it show in front of Joe.

"He didn't say anything to you?"

I gave Joe a look. "Ranger rarely shares his emotions with me." Master of the blank face and one-word sentence, and Joe expects me to know exactly what he's feeling.

Joe blinked at me for a second. "Cupcake, I've been around you guys since, what, four o'clock? And in that time, I've seen that man show more emotion than all the years I've known him. Hell, everyone in that room knew exactly what he was feeling when we walked in. If you didn't, then you don't know him as well as you think you do."

I stared at Joe in shock. I tried to think of a reply, but only managed to open and close my mouth a few times.

"You know, Cupcake," Joe continued, scuffing his toe in the grass as he looked down. "It's not easy to admit, but I'm starting to think that you're right about us being better off apart. And it helps to see that he really does care about you. And he takes better care of you than I thought."

"He might care about me Joe, but we're not together. I keep telling you this. He doesn't want me – we're not going to be together."

"Don't do that, Steph."

"Do what?"

"That," he said, gesturing his hand toward me. "Denial. When you're not sure of something, or scared, you go into denial. Pretend it doesn't exist. You did it to me every time we started to get serious or every time we had a fight. Don't do it to him."

With that he hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm glad you're okay, Cupcake." He walked back over to where the other Trenton police were congregating, leaving me to mull over his words.

Eventually, Ranger came back to where I was still standing, staring off into space. "Cops finally agreed we could go."

"Okay."

I looked over to where all the cops were, realizing I recognized almost half of them. "Wait a minute. What are all the Trenton cops doing here? And how'd you get here?"

Ranger gave me an almost smile. "When the call came in to the Manasquan 911, they knew who you were and called Trenton PD, who called Joe. I was with Joe with they called him."

"Well, I get why you and Joe showed up. But what about all the other cops? Why are they here?" 

"Guess they just like you, babe."

I was quite sure that was not the case. "You know, I should start getting a cut of all the money that exchanges hands."

Ranger nodded, seriously. "Eddie won $500. But I know for a fact that he's not on duty, and drove over here just to make sure you're all right."

I blew out a breath. It was Eddie after all….and he had kids. And I knew he did actually care about me, so I abandoned my plan to go over there and demand a cut of his winnings.

Ranger grinned at me, sensing my mental dilemma, and pulled me to him in a side-hug. "Come on, let's get out of here. One of the guys will drive your dad's car back to your parent's house."

"Okay. Hey, what about Jimmy? He never showed back up. He had just run to the store when the cops showed up."

"He probably saw the cop cars and ambulance and went back into hiding. We have a team on each of his hide-outs, and the cops have someone guarding Anthony. He'll surface soon, and we'll see him when he does. Until then, you're sticking with me."

I nodded sheepishly. "I'll stay till this is over, I promise."

"Thanks, babe," he said, giving me a quick kiss before pulling me towards the truck.

Minutes into the drive, I was out cold. I had been awake for almost 24 hours at this point. In that time, I had been threatened with a creepy picture, ran away from Ranger, been kidnapped, thought I was going to be chopped up, attacked my would-be rescuer, at sat through two hours of police questioning. Saying it had been a long day didn't even begin to cover it.

I woke to find Ranger standing on my side of the truck in the Haywood garage. He was gently brushing the hair out of my face and kissing me on the cheek.

All I could manage was a mumbled "mmmn, I'm sleeping."

He chuckled and scooped me up in his arms, easily walking to the elevator. He had been awake as long as I had, but didn't seem nearly as affected.

When I opened my eyes again, Ranger was depositing me on his bed.

"Wait, why?" I was pretty sure I had been staying on the fourth floor.

"I told you, babe. I'm not letting you out of my sight until this thing is over. That means you're sleeping here."

I wanted to get mad at that statement, to protest that I didn't need a babysitter, but the sheets….the pillows….Ranger in silk boxers….I just couldn't get up the energy required to make a fuss.

So I just mumbled something that came out like "mkay" and curled up around one of his amazing pillows. I could hear Ranger laughing at me as he headed for the bathroom, but I couldn't care about that either.

I awoke to his watch beeping. As I struggled to sit up and squint in the streaming sunlight, I instantly realized I had had nowhere enough sleep. With a groan, I fell back down. But I wasn't laying on a pillow – I was on Ranger, and my head had just landed with a thud on his chest.

"Ugghh, sorry."

"That's okay, babe. Come on, it's time to get up," he said, bringing his hands up to rub my back.

"Uh uh. Nope. I'm going to back to sleep." I wiggled around a bit to get back to my comfortable position on top of him.

"Babe." It came out in a groan, and I froze as I realized what my wiggling had inadvertently accomplished.

He gave me a hint of his wolf smile, and easily picked me up, lifting me off of him and dropping me on the bed beside him. I landed on my stomach with a 'whoosh.'

"Get up, get in the shower," he said, swatting me on the ass as he started to leave. "Ella will bring breakfast in a minute. We need to talk."

Uh oh. I watched his receding figure, wondering what we needed to talk about. I was almost done in the shower when it hit me. I had told him that I was going home when this thing with Jimmy was over, and that he had until then to decide if he wanted to be with me or not.

They were expecting to pick up Jimmy today at one of his hide-outs today, which meant this would be over and I would go home. And he said we needed to talk.

Shit.

I slowly got dressed, my heart pounding out of my chest. I probably should have never said that to Ranger, about him having to give me a decision. I don't know why I did, or why he's bothering to discuss it now. We both know exactly what he's going to say. It's the same thing he's been saying for over a year, since 'the deal.' That he doesn't do relationships, and he's certainly not going to do one for me. I just hadn't been listening.

Finally, I couldn't think of anything else in the bathroom to distract me, and my stomach growled loudly, pushing me toward the dining room. If Ella wasn't such a good cook, I'd find a way to avoid this. But Ranger had temped me with Ella's breakfast. He probably did it on purpose.

"That was fast," Ranger said as I slid into a chair at the dining room table. "Did you just run out of ways to stall, or did you get too hungry?"

I tried to protest, but the heat I could feel in my face gave me away. "Both, actually." I plowed into my breakfast, hoping it would forestall the coming conversation.

It worked. I ate my amazing ham and cheese omelet in peace, while Ranger ate his dry, plain bagel. Finally, he stood to take the dishes to the sink. After rinsing them, he came back and sank into the chair next to me.

"Babe."

"We gonna talk now?" I was sure I sounded petulant, but I really, really didn't want to have this conversation.

"There was a cleaning crew through your apartment yesterday. It's now clean and sterile. I got the call a few minutes ago that Jimmy was spotted entering his mother's house. There's surveillance on him. His mother has some company, so we're waiting until they leave. When they do, a team of RangeMan and Trenton PD is going to go and get him. So, in about an hour, you'll be free to go home, if you'd like."

Free to go home. Well, I guess that's a nicer way to put it then 'go back to Joe.' Though I had no idea what the 'if you'd like' part meant. Was there some other option here that I wasn't aware of? I shook my head, trying to make sense of everything he had just said.

"Okay, let's start from the top. We're just waiting for a call? Why aren't we part of the team to get Jimmy?"

"Because I want you in my sight until this thing is over. And I want you here and safe. Which means I stay here too. Tank and Joe are in charge."

"What? I thought we agreed to find a new way to deal with situations like this. One that didn't involve me being locked into this building."

"We did. For next time. For right now, we're both exhausted, and there are plenty of other people to deal with this."

"No way. This is my skip. I'm not going to just leave it to everyone else."

"You agreed to stay with me, babe."

"Yeah, well, that was before I realized your plan was just to sit here with me. I assumed that you would actually be involved." I stood from the table and headed for the door. I was not just sitting here, again, while they ran off to get my skip.

"You promised."

His voice was soft, but it stopped me cold. Just a few hours ago, I was thinking about how selfish it had been of me to run off. And I had promised him that I would stay with him.

But what was worse, was that I wasn't even that mad about staying here. I was exhausted, and they guy had kidnapped me. I would prefer to be there, to take care of my own problems, just like I had with Stiva, but it wasn't the end of the world to be here with Ranger.

No, I was trying to avoid the conversation I knew was coming, so I was running away.

Slowly, I turned around and walked back to where Ranger was standing beside the dining room table.

"We going to finish our conversation now?"

I just nodded. He grabbed my hand and led me to the couch.

"As I was saying, this whole thing will be over in an hour or so, and you'll be able to go home, if you'd like." He stopped for a minute, looking away from me like he was trying to gather his thoughts. My heart was pounding, and I was trying to come up with any excuse to stop from saying what I knew was coming next.

"Steph, I…

He stopped when my phone rang. It was sitting on the coffee table in front of us, and I lunged for it, thankful for any interruption. I was trying to be mature, and not just go into denial, like Joe had so kindly suggested last night. But I was still willing to put the conversation off by a few minutes.

I glanced at the caller ID, and felt little black spots dance in front of my eyes. "It's Jimmy." I took a deep breath, and managed to answer the call and put it on speaker with a shaking hand.

"Hello?"

"Stephanie. It was very rude of you and Anthony to call the police last night. Now you've made me very, very angry. You're going to regret running away from me, Stephanie."

I gulped at this, but kept reminding myself that Tank and Joe were already preparing to go in and get him, just as soon as his mother's company left. There was nothing he could do to escape at this point.

"Just what are you planning to do, Jimmy?"

"Oh no, Stephanie. I'm not planning. I've already done it. And it'll be up to you to fix this mess, since you're the one who caused it."

Oh god. That's all we need is me in charge of fixing anything. "What? What have you done?"

"You see, when I saw all the cops at the house, I drove around for hours trying to find you. And then I realized that I could just make you come to me. And I found the perfect way. See, I went to my mother's house. She's still recuperating from her injuries, you know. And there were these nice families from her church here visiting her. Such nice, well-behaved little children."

My stomach plummeted and my breath started coming in short gasps as I waited for Jimmy to continue.

"And now they can't leave. I've captured them."

He hung up. Oh my god, he has them, those families. And he said it was up to me to fix this.

As I put my head down between my knees, I heard Ranger's phone ring. Over the rushing sound in my ears and the pounding of my heart, I could just barely make out Tank's booming voice over the line.

"Boss, we got a hostage situation. You and Steph should get over here."


	19. Chapter 19

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language._

--------------------------------------------------------

_My stomach plummeted and my breath started coming in short gasps as I waited for Jimmy to continue. _

"_And now they can't leave. I've captured them." _

_He hung up. Oh my god, he has them, those families. And he said it was up to me to fix this._

_As I put my head down between my knees, I heard Ranger's phone ring. Over the rushing sound in my ears and the pounding of my heart, I could just barely make out Tank's booming voice over the line._

"_Boss, we got a hostage situation. You and Steph should get over here."_

---------------------------------------------------------

Within what felt like a second, Ranger had me up on my feet, racing for the elevator. We stopped on the fifth floor and Ranger pulled me toward a closet. He shoved a couple things into my pockets, what looked like a panic button and a tracer. He shoved a wire into my bra and put an earpiece on me, before strapping a Kevlar vest to me. He handed me a utility belt, and everything I needed to put in it. I numbly put it all on as he armed and wired himself. Looking back, it was actually amazing how fast he had us both outfitted and ready, with minimal help from me.

He had us in the truck, on the way to Jimmy's mother's house before I could even comprehend what was happening.

"Babe," Ranger said, shooting me a concerned glance. "We're not going to know anything more until we get there. No use worrying about it yet."

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and gulped in more air. He was right, we had no idea what was actually going on. It's not like anyone was actually going to leave me in charge to deal with it, no matter what Jimmy said. If this were really a hostage situation, there would be all sorts of people there. Between them, the cops, Ranger, and all the Merry Men, there was no way I would just be left to fix this on my own. And who knew, maybe by the time we got there, Tank would have the whole thing under control and Jimmy in custody.

"You okay, babe?"

I took another deep breath. I could do this. "Yeah, I'm okay. See, this is why we should have gone instead of just sitting in the apartment."

Ranger actually laughed. "Okay, babe. You win that one."

I grinned at him, thankful for his levity. I was trying to stay calm, but my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. Adrenaline was pouring through me, with no outlet. The effect made me want to jump out of my skin. Or maybe scream like a banshee.

We pulled up outside Jimmy's mother's house, and the scene outside the windshield was enough to make my heart stop. Cop cars were everywhere, their flashing lights creating an almost strobe-like atmosphere, even in the daylight. People were strutting around, their easy movements belying their frantic tones of voice. Mostly men, in all various uniforms, from police to military to swat to the bad suits of federal agents.

I sat there, taking it all in, not even noticing Ranger climbing out of the truck and coming around to my side. I jumped when he opened my door. He grinned at me as I swung around to stare at him, still in shock. He didn't seem surprised at all the activity.

"Pretty standard stuff, babe. It'll get busier when the command center gets here."

I glared at him, but spoke without heat. "Damn ESP."

He smiled at me, just the corners of his mouth tipping up. "Come on, let's find out who's in charge."

I took his hand as he helped me out of the truck, and followed him over to where Tank was standing. He had on a vest, and a walkie-talkie in each hand provided ceaseless crackling.

"Hey Boss, Steph."

"What do we know?" Ranger asked him.

"Not much. Clark entered the house at 0930. Six civilians inside, three women, one elderly. Three children, ages appear between 2 and 6 years old. The two younger women's names are Sherrie Lynn and Jesse – both attend church with Mrs. Clark. ATF is on the way to set up command."

"Why AFT?"

"Too many guns in there and Jimmy's had too much military training. The Philly office has a negotiator they're sending up."

I zoned out when Tank mentioned the age of the children, not bothering to pay attention to the rest of their conversation. Three children, very young children, were inside, and Jimmy said it was up to me to fix this. I was taking in big gulps of air, trying to stay calm, when I noticed Ranger and Tank both staring at me.

"Not much we can do until ATF gets here, babe. That's when the real fun will start."

My eyes got huge and I managed to make a squeaking noise. It took two more tries for my vocal chords to work. "The fun? You think this is fun?"

Ranger seemed to grow more concerned about me, as my panic levels clearly rose. He pulled me tight to him, and spoke in my ear. "Is thinking about the alternative any better? This woman coming up from Philly, she's good. I've worked with her before. She'll be in charge, and until she gets here, there's not much we can do. If you panic now, you're gong to be no use to her, and she may need you. You have a goal, remember? Focus on that."

I nodded and sank into him, willing myself to soak up his calm. He was right. Panicking was not going to do anyone any good. I concentrated on my breathing and felt myself calming somewhat, even thought my heart was still threatening to pound out of my chest. I stayed where I was until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"What'd you manage to get yourself into this time, Cupcake?"

I may have been calmer, but no way was I taking that sitting down.

"Contrary to popular belief, Joe, I didn't do this," I said, gesturing around the crowded street that was growing busier by the minute.

Joe laughed and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Whoa, didn't mean to piss you off. Just find it ironic that we went through this just a few hours ago."

I knew Joe wasn't trying to blame the current situation on me. I was doing enough blaming for the both of us, and the guilt was starting to get to me. Jimmy had made it clear that his entire reasoning for taking these families hostage was to get back at me for escaping last night. The nagging guilt was growing quickly, weighing down my soul. The last thing I needed from Joe was any confirmation of the feeling.

I had freed myself from Ranger's arms, and was now standing awkwardly in between the two men.

"Did you talk to Clark?" Joe asked me.

"Yeah, he called my cell. Told me this was my fault, and that I had to be the one to fix it."

Joe cursed under his breath and looked away for a second.

Ranger spoke over my head to him. "ATF should be here soon. They're sending Morrison."

Joe nodded, looking a little relieved at that news. I just hoped that was the woman Ranger had earlier referred to as 'good.' It wasn't a compliment that he handed out lightly.

Joe confirmed my suspicion. "Kate Morrison," he said, turning back to me. "She's from Philly. If anybody can talk him off the ledge, it'll be her. And if you have to do anything, she'll talk you through it."

I was a little wary of what 'anything' could be, but I nodded, grateful that someone who knew what they were doing would be helping me. I leaned back against Ranger's chest, trying to soak up more zen-like feelings. My breath was starting to come more normally, and my heart was slowing down a bit. If it wasn't for my hands shaking violently, I'd almost have said I was calm and prepared. But I'd settle for being able to breathe. Not bad for the situation I had found myself in.

Joe excused himself to talk with some of the other cops. Ranger and I stood still, waiting. I watched when, a few minutes later, a large white van appeared, followed by what could only be SUV's belonging to federal agents.

Sure enough, a small woman with short blond hair jumped out of the front one as soon as it rolled to a stop. She took in the scene for a second, and then strode purposefully toward us.

Ranger nodded at her without moving his arms from around me. "Kate."

"Ranger," she said, grinning up at him. "Ready for some action?"

"Always. Meet Stephanie Plum. Babe, this is Kate Morrison. She'll be in charge."

I smiled and shook her hand, as we each said 'nice to meet you' type things. The normal, everyday pleasantries against this backdrop seemed surreal.

"Okay, Ms. Plum, you're the one he called?"

"Yes, but please, call me Steph."

She nodded. "Okay, Steph, if he called you, then he's probably going to want to talk primarily to you. So, let's go over to the command center and give you a crash course in hostage negotiation. As soon as the rest of the SWAT team is ready, we'll get started."

I balked as she started to turn and head down the street. I dug my toes into the grass, ignoring Ranger's gentle shove. "Uh, um…you, um…you expect me to do this by myself? I really don't think that's a good idea at all." That panic I had successfully pushed down was back full force. I shook my head from side to side and dug my toes in further.

"Babe, you're not going to be alone. You're going to have Kate standing beside you, telling you exactly what to say, the entire time. She's just trying to prepare you to be the one actually speaking to him."

I took a deep breath at this information. I was just going to be the mouthpiece. I could do that, I had a big mouth. I took another deep breath and forced one foot in front of the other. Ranger grabbed my hand and pulled me along, following Kate to the van.

I was struck speechless again as we entered the large van. Three men and one woman were seated inside, working furiously, all wearing matching t-shirts with ATF printed on the back. We followed Kate inside, and Joe came in a moment later.

"Detective Morelli, how are you?" Kate asked him.

"Good. How are you Kate?" Joe leaned over and shook her hand, giving her a warm smile. He continued at her affirmative answer. "I see you've met the famous Stephanie."

Kate flashed me a smile. "The one and only, I've heard."

I felt my face heating up, mortified at just the idea of my escapades filtering all the way to the Philly ATF office.

Kate looked at my red face and laughed. "Don't worry, Steph. It's almost all good. And besides, we hear you always get your man"

I smiled at that, and studied her as she turned back to speak to Joe. She had a surfer's body – small and compact, with no room for unnecessary curves. Her short blond hair swung back and forth as she talked animatedly. She was the kind of woman who would be considered cute if it weren't for the obvious physical strength and the tough outer shell. That thought was confirmed as she turned to me, now all business and ready to get started.

"Okay, Steph. Ready for the crash course?"

"Yup, let's get this show on the road." I was still nervous, but I hoped my light tone would prevent anyone else from noticing. Kate and Joe seemed satisfied. Ranger didn't buy it for a minute.

Without further ado, Kate started in, giving me more information than I ever thought I would need on the subject, let alone be able to comprehend.

"The ATF uses the SAFE model of crisis negotiation. Basically, our goal today is lower the emotion the suspect is feeling. We're nervous out here, but he's nervous in there too. There's a lot at stake for him, even if he's acting tough. If we can de-escalate the emotion he's feeling, whether that's fear, anger, shame, or anything else, then we have a better chance of convincing him to surrender peacefully."

"I never thought of that, that he might be as scared as we are."

I glanced over at Ranger, who nodded. "He's got himself in a tight spot, and he knows it. He'll do what it takes to get back out."

I nodded as well, and looked back at Kate, waiting for her to continue with what had to be a lot of information. Just telling me to 'de-escalate' his emotion wasn't going to cut it.

She jumped right back in. "We're going to carefully follow and record everything that the suspect says. Everything he says has a goal, that we need to respond to. Sometimes it's going to be a demand, like a helicopter and a free trip to Mexico, and other times it will be just having someone understand his actions and emotions. These four in here with us, Logan, Mark, Jenny, and Rob," she said, gesturing around to the younger agents who each looked up long enough to nod at me, "are going to be recording everything, and helping with how to answer him."

I gave a large sigh of relief as I was introduced around. The fact that everyone in here was working as a team, and was clearly well-trained and calm, did more to relieve my panic than anything else had.

Kate continued. Everything he says is going to fall into one of four 'frames,' or categories, each with a specific goal. Which category his statements fall into tells us how to answer him. Jenny here is in charge of determining which frame he's in.

"SAFE is an acronym for the four frames. The S frame is substantive demands. There are really important demands he'll make, like us just leaving or a giving him a helicopter, that we can't meet, and generally try to ignore. Then, there are a lot of lesser demands made, like food or cigarettes or calling a friend. These demands we can meet, and we will try to exchange something for them, like a hostage or a weapon."

I nodded at all the information Kate had just thrown at me as Ranger rubbed my back reassuringly. Hopefully it was an attempt to remind me that I didn't necessarily have to be an expert on the subject. I was just the mouthpiece here.

But this first frame thing she was talking about made sense. That's what you always saw on TV, the bad guy demanding something and the negotiator shouting for them to release a hostage first. So far, so good.

Kate waited until I had processed everything so far, and then started again. "Okay, the second frame is the A frame – attunement. This is basically the nature of the relationship between the suspect and whoever he's talking to. How much he trusts you and feels like you're concerned for him. The more you can convince him that you care about him, the more he'll trust you, and that de-escalates the crisis."

"Wait," I asked, "how am I supposed to convince him I care about him, when I spent the past month trying to find him to drag him back to jail? I think we've established that he doesn't trust me at all."

"Well, the biggest thing we can do is act like we're cooperating with him. The information RangeMan faxed to me said he's not mentally stable, right?"

Ranger and I both nodded. I hadn't realized that he'd thought to have all the information we had collected on Jimmy over the past couple weeks sent to Kate. I hoped that would help.

"Okay then, the first and biggest way we can cooperate is to pull back the SWAT teams. That shows that we trust him. So as soon as we enter the attunement frame in the conversation, and Jenny will tell us when we do, then we'll offer to do that."

"You just want to let the SWAT team go home when there are kids in there?" I asked, my voice starting to squeak again. Ranger said she was good, but this just seemed like a dumb idea, even to me.

Kate just smiled at me. "No, certainly not. However, they're really crowding in right now, to scare Jimmy, and show him the severity of his situation. They're pushed in close enough right now, that we can pull them back significantly, and still have shots lined up on him if necessary. We can also pull off the helicopter we have circling without sacrificing the safety of the hostages."

Oh, well that made sense. I turned to look at Ranger, who nodded.

"Think about how intimidating it is for him, babe, to be surrounded by so many SWAT guys. It's a scary sight. Pulling them back will go a long ways toward making him trust you."

"Yes," Kate said. "Other things we can do are to have you talk about yourself some, or talk about the guys you work with – he'll find common ground with the military. Any common ground you can find will help build trust."

"Okay, I think I got it. You said there were four frames?" I asked. I was hoping there weren't many more – it was a lot to keep track of. I couldn't even begin to explain how glad I was that no one was expecting me to do this alone.

"Yeah, two more. The third frame is the F frame – Face. Basically, he cares about how he appears to everyone here, and he'll do what it takes to protect his reputation. He'll take actions and make statements to save-face, to build himself up. He doesn't want to be perceived as weak, so he won't just back down the first time you ask. He doesn't want to be perceived as crazy, so he'll try to rationalize his actions or blame you.

"Face is a basic issue with all negotiation, not just crisis situations. No one wants to be the one to give in. So you just need to build up his ego enough that he feels like he can surrender without being seen as weak."

"You should understand this one, Cupcake," Joe spoke up, helpfully. "You know how when Ranger or I tell you to do something, and you do the opposite so you don't look like the helpless female?"

I stuck out my tongue at Joe and Kate laughed. "You're terrible, Morelli. But it's a good example," she said, turning back to me. "Face needs are something that can't be negotiated – you can't trade 50 of his self-respect for 50 of the hostages. Basically, his ego is your goal – when he starts trying to rationalize why he did this, you need to make it seem like taking six hostages is a perfectly normal reaction."

"But it wasn't perfectly normal. It was a terrible thing to do!" I couldn't believe Kate was sitting here saying that I should tell Jimmy that he did nothing wrong. Clearly, that was not the case.

"Babe." Ranger spoke up from behind me. "No one's saying that what he did is okay. We're saying that you need to say anything it takes to get him to come out without killing himself and everyone inside. Now's the time to buddy up to the crazy guy, not give him a lecture on etiquette."

"Oh. Well, I guess by now I should be used to making nice with the crazies."

Everyone grinned at me at that statement. If anyone was used to talking themselves away from crazy stalkers, it was me.

"Okay, Steph, just one more frame left. The last is E – emotional distress. We already know that he has PTSD, so this one is going to be very important. He's going to be feeling a lot of emotion, mostly anger and fear. Every emotion has an action that goes with it – if you're angry, you attack. If you're scared, you flee or escape. If you're feeling shame, you want to disappear or hide. So, by addressing how he can fulfill that action, you'll lessen the negative emotion he's feeling, and de-escalate the crisis. If he's feeling shame, we'll talk about how can get a fresh start or a clean slate by surrendering."

My confusion must have shown on my face, since Kate decided to try to explain this differently. "You know when you break up with your boyfriend, you feel terrible. But then you come up with a plan to go buy new clothes and new sheets and clean your house…" she paused, waiting for my nod. "After you come up with a plan for how to deal with the emotion, you feel better, right? The emotion lessens."

"Well, sure, because you feel like you have a way to deal with it," I said. I could relate to that one. I pretty much did that every time Joe and I split – cleaned my apartment, decided to get better at my job…it didn't change anything, but having the plan to improve my life certainly made me feel better.

I glanced at the guys. Ranger was smirking and Joe was frowning. Not that I was surprised – that was their usual expressions when the three of us were in a room together. Telling, really.

"Yeah, I get it," I finally said, since everyone was still staring at me. I hoped that Ranger couldn't read my thoughts, but I doubted it would make a difference. Apparently my face was expressive. "So, if we help him come up with a plan to deal with the emotion, even if it's a plan that we know he could never carry out since he'll be in jail, then it may help him calm down some."

"Right," Kate and Ranger said at the same time. Both were beaming at me.

"That's it, Steph," Kate said. "All we have to do is communicate with Jimmy in the right frame."

I nodded. The whole frame thing was starting to make sense in my head. I basically just need to make sure that Jimmy and I were talking about the same things, really.

"Jenny is going to help us," Kate continued, "by telling us which frame we're in. Rob's going to work on the technology, and the Logan and Mark are going to be recording everything."

I glanced at each of the other people in the van, thankful again that they were there. Even though I got the general idea of the frames, there was no way I'd be able to keep them all straight, let alone figure out which one we were in at any given moment.

"The most important thing here, Steph, is that you do exactly as we say. I know you don't like following orders, but you have to here. It is absolutely vital that you stick to what I'm saying. Don't forget for a second that Jimmy has an explosive temper. If we say the wrong thing, this whole situation can get out of our control very quickly."

I nodded at Kate. Before I could respond, someone yanked open the door of the van and yelled for Kate. She jumped out, leaving the door open. The past thirty minutes or so had been spent in a very academic conversation. I had almost been able to forget everything going on outside the van.

But my panic came rushing back as I stepped outside. The action on the small, normally quiet street had escalated severely. Two helicopters were now circling, snipers clearly visible. SWAT guys were on every roof, and I could see even more in neighbor's windows and on the street. More cop cars had arrived, if that were even possible. And a huge crowd of reporters and spectators had gathered. Crime scene tape had been put up, trying to unsuccessfully to hold them back.

The sheer number of police astounded me, many in full riot gear. I was even more surprised to notice the distinctive uniforms of Philly police. I guess stand-offs of this nature, with children involved, weren't that common, and all possible back-up had been called in.

The noise level, as I stood there, taking it all in, was overwhelming. The noise of everyone yelling and so many cars running was compounded by the rising and falling drone of the circling helicopters. As I watched, a third helicopter joined the fray, this one belonging to a news station.

Ranger exited the trailer behind me, and pulled me off to one side, leaning close so that I could hear him. "Babe. Remember when we talked about how much I value your input, but that when we're in a dangerous situation, it's really the time to just do what I say?"

I nodded, stiffly.

"This is one of those times, Babe. I know you don't know Kate well, but you need to do exactly what she says. There's no running off to do your own thing."

I stared up at him, knowing he was still upset about me running away yesterday, and attempting to do so again this morning. The guilt felt like it was going to crush me. All I could get out was a whisper. "Do you think this is all my fault?"

Ranger cursed under his breath and pulled me into his arms. Ranger never cursed. For some odd reason, it was reassuring.

"Babe," he spoke into my hair, "this is not your fault. Jimmy did this, and Jimmy alone. And we're all going to work together to make sure everyone goes home safe."

I nodded into his chest, and took a step back. "I'll listen to Kate. I won't run off or try anything on my own, I promise."

He kissed me on the cheek, and left me to my thoughts as he went to find Kate. Joe had left the trailer as well, and was talking with several police officers.

As I looked over at Joe, as his words from weeks ago swam through my mind. He had said that I was selfish – that I went off in any hair-brained idea, leaving everyone else to deal with the consequences while I stood there and said that it wasn't my fault. I had a sinking suspicion that this was one of those consequences.

I had never been put in this situation before. I was going to be in a command trailer, wearing a vest. In theory, I was not in any danger. I had grown accustomed to fighting for my own life, and I did whatever it took, usually ignoring both Joe and Ranger's demands.

But this time…this time, I was fighting for someone else's life. This was worse, much worse. Because here, if I screwed up, I was going to have to live with that. And the thought terrified me.

I looked around again, and spotted Ranger and Kate talking to two SWAT guys. I fought through the crowd in that direction. It was odd, seeing Joe and Ranger both in this situation. Both of them seemed in their element, as I watched them each interact with various people. This was just a whole part of their jobs that I had never experienced. They both looked like it was just another day at the office, while I was doing everything I could not to throw up.

As I approached Range rand Kate, I noticed that one of the SWAT guys was holding a large red phone. Ranger instantly noticed my curiosity. "It's a throw-phone, babe. These guys are going to literally throw it into the house, through a window, and we'll use it to contact Jimmy. All other forms of communication inside the house have been cut off."

I nodded slowly. This was really going to happen, and I couldn't believe I was in the middle of it.

Kate turned to me. "Okay, Steph. Let's head back to the command center. As soon as they get the phone inside, we'll call. I want you to talk to Jimmy first, since he called you earlier."

My heart was pounding as I forced myself to follow Kate and Ranger. I was struggling to breathe by the time we reached the trailer. Ranger guided me to a chair with a phone sitting on the desk in front of it. I barely resisted the urge to tell everyone I couldn't do it, that they'd have to find someone else.

But I didn't. I took a deep breath and looked at Ranger for courage. He turned my chair a bit, and squatted down in front of me. He didn't say anything, but the smile he gave me as he rested a hand on my thigh was enough to make the vise around my heart loosen just enough. I nodded at him and took another deep breath.

Joe was standing a little off to the side, watching me with concern. But for the first time in a long time, he seemed proud of me as well.

I smiled at him and turned to Kate.

"Ready?" she asked.

I took another breath, and snuck a look at Ranger for courage. I reached down and twined my fingers around his, where they still rested on my thigh.

"Ready."

Kate nodded and picked up the phone, setting it on speaker. "Here we go." She dialed, and within seconds, we could hear the phone ringing on the other end.


	20. Chapter 20

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language._

-----------------------------------------------------

The phone rang and rang. I glanced nervously at Kate, but she looked calm. After what had to have been 30 rings, I spoke up.

"What do we do now?"

"We let it keep ringing. He'll pick up," she said.

I wasn't nearly as confident, but I followed her lead and sat there, waiting. After each silence, the shrill ring cut through the air in the trailer. The longer it rang, the more raw my nerves felt. Ranger squeezed my hand tighter, willing me to calm down.

After another twenty rings, Jimmy finally picked up.

"What?" he growled.

"Jimmy, it's Stephanie." My heart was pounding so hard that when I spoke, I sounded winded.

Kate nodded at me.

"Well, well. Stephanie Plum finally shows up. It's about damn time. It's been two hours since I called you."

Kate was whispering in my ear. My first instinct was to snap back at Jimmy, something along the lines of, 'you fucking asshole, there are kids in there, let them go.' But I remembered my promise to Ranger, and faithfully repeated everything Kate said.

"I'm here now, Jimmy, and I'm worried about you. Are you okay in there?"

I glanced at Ranger, who was still squatting beside my chair, our fingers wound together. He winked at me, sensing my internal desire to say anything but that. I could care less what happened to Jimmy. But if that's what it took to end this, I would say it.

"No, I'm not okay. You idiots cut off the power. Do you know how hot it is in here? And there are snipers everywhere. You all need to tell everyone else to leave. This is just between you and me, Stephanie."

And there was that guilt feeling, crowding in. I had to struggle to hear Kate's whispered words over the rushing in my ears.

"You know I don't have the authority to send everyone away Jimmy. And this is just you and me talking here. You called me earlier today, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted you to know what I was doing, and this is your fault. You're the reason I did this Stephanie."

I looked at Ranger with huge eyes. He squeezed my hand again and shook his head. I glanced over at Logan, one of the younger agents, who was writing Jimmy's statement on a big whiteboard, in a column labeled 'F.' Guess that meant we were in the Face frame. But I was too upset to figure out what I was supposed to do with that information.

Thank god Kate was seated beside me, still whispering in my ear. I repeated her faithfully.

"I'm sorry I ran away last night, Jimmy. I overheard you and Anthony talking and I got scared."

Huh. Guess Ranger had filled her in on what went down in old-man Klostermier's beach house the night before.

Jimmy continued on his rant. "You shouldn't have run away from me. You had been hunting me for weeks. But I won. I captured you. And then you and Anthony betrayed me by running away."

"I didn't mean to betray you. I was just scared. Do you ever get scared, Jimmy?"

"No, I never get scared. What kind of question is that?"

I didn't get where Kate was going with this, but I kept repeating her. "I bet you don't get scared. Were you a good soldier?"

"I was a great soldier. The best. And then those idiots sent me home."

Aha. I forgot – the face frame is where we say ridiculous things to stroke his ego. And Jenny was still telling us that we were in the face frame.

I crinkled my nose at Ranger as I said it, but I kept repeating Kate. "That was stupid. They lost a good soldier when they sent you home for no reason."

"You're goddamn right they had no reason. I was just doing what my officer told me to do."

"That is being a good soldier. No wonder you were one of the best. You sure are better than me. You captured me fair and square yesterday."

I cringed. Fair? He bashed in my window with a baseball bat and hogtied me. How was that fair?

"Yeah, but then you betrayed me. So why should I trust you now?"

At Jimmy's words, Logan and Jenny both started making frantic gestures with their hands, and Logan started writing in the 'A' column on the white-board. Guess that was my cue that we switched to the A frame. I couldn't remember what the A stood for, let alone what I was supposed to be saying.

But Kate was already whispering, and I repeated her. "Jimmy, I'm concerned about you. I'm going to do everything I can to cooperate with you."

Oh, that's right, we're cooperating with the crazy here. Making him believe we're not going to shoot his ass at the first clean shot.

"You're not doing much cooperating from what I see. I asked you to send everyone else home. This is just between you and me."

"Jimmy, you know I can't do that. But I do want to cooperate with you. How about if I talk to some people in charge, and ask them to get rid of the SWAT team. Would that make you more comfortable?"

"You can do that?"

"I can try. I want to help you Jimmy. I'm really worried about you."

"Well, okay, yeah, try that."

"Okay. I'm going to hang up now, so I can talk to some people. Will you answer when I call back?"

"Yeah. I'll be here. Not like I can just run out for some beer, ya know?"

"Okay. I'll call back as soon as I can."

"Okay. Bye."

I hung up and looked around the room. Logan and Jenny, the two younger agents who had been recording everything were grinning from ear to ear and giving everyone high-fives. Kate, Joe, and Ranger were all staring at me like I had just preformed a miracle.

"What?" I finally asked. "What happened?" 

"That was really great, Steph," Kate answered. "You did amazing."

"I did? I was just repeating what you said."

"Yeah, but you got him to trust you very quickly. That will really de-escalate this whole thing."

"It will?" I knew I was sounding dense here. But I really didn't get it. I looked over at Ranger, hoping he would shed some light on what everyone was so freakin' thrilled about.

"Babe, the first time you told him you were worried about him, he didn't believe you. This time, he said 'okay.' When we called, it took over 50 rings for him to pick up. Now he saying he'll answer when you call. That's huge progress."

"Oh. Well, I was still only repeating Kate."

"Yeah, but Cupcake," Joe said, "you made him believe you. We could see the faces you were making in here, but to him, you sounded sincere. You're voice didn't shake, you didn't cry, you didn't stop – you just kept talking, and you made him believe you. You did really great."

I grinned at Joe, thankful for the compliment. I turned to Kate. "So is that it, are we done? Will he let them go now?"

I heard one of the younger agents snigger behind me. I whipped around and gave him my best Burg glare. He stopped immediately and went back to whatever he was working on. Now way was some punk kid from Philly getting the best of a Burg girl. We knew how to hold our own.

When I turned back around, Ranger was grinning at me. But Kate spoke up, getting my attention.

"No. We'll pull the SWAT guys back in a few minutes, and then call and start again. Chances are we'll do this for hours."

"Okay." I sank back into my chair, trying to stretch a bit before we started the next round. One of the kids handed me a bottle of water from a cooler on the floor, which I took gratefully. My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't open in.

Ranger took it from me and twisted off the cap before handing it back. As soon as I set the water down, he grabbed my left hand and threaded his fingers back through mine. My emotions had calmed somewhat while I had been talking to Jimmy. But now that we were back to just waiting, the panic came rushing back full force.

Ranger noticed the change in my emotions almost as soon as I felt it. He stood up, coming around behind me, and put his hands on my shoulders. As he started to rub my shoulders, he leaned down to whisper in my ear. I was so focused on the feel of his hands that I almost didn't see Joe slide out of the trailer.

Kate saw it, though. "Ranger, if you want a minute alone with Steph, we can step outside for a second."

I didn't hear his answer, but it must have been affirmative, because when I opened my eyes, we were alone.

Ranger scooped me up out the chair, and sat down in it himself, pulling me into his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around me. By now, my whole body was shaking.

"It's okay, Babe. It's just the adrenaline. It'll pass in a minute."

I nodded into this chest and held on to him. He rubbed my back as I gasped for air. But he was right, within a few minutes, the shaking started to lessen and my breath started coming easier.

"Sorry to overreact."

"You didn't, Babe. You've done amazing. I'm a little jealous, I have to admit."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, you're listening to Kate. Doing everything she says. I should hire her just to pass instructions to you through her. Maybe then you'd listen to me."

I punched him in the stomach – the only place I could reach, with the way I was crammed into his lap. "Jerk."

He chuckled and set me on my feet. I kept glaring at him, though I knew he had only done it to distract me. And I was thankful – it did help calm me down.

He stood and kissed me hard, before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the trailer.

We found Kate talking to two other men in ATF shirts. They were older men, and probably in charge from the looks of things. They nodded at Ranger and me as we approached.

The two men started barking orders into their walkie-talkies, and I watched as the scene before me changed dramatically. All three helicopters turned and headed away from the house. The SWAT guys in the neighbor's house moved out of sight, pulling their rifles out of the windows. The curtains still shifted, so I knew they were there watching, but it was significantly less threatening. The SWAT team on the roofs of each of the buildings similarly moved out of sight, or at least to lower-profile positions.

The cops turned off their cars and flashing lights, quieting even more of the bedlam, bringing it down to a tolerable level. The cops who had been behind their open car doors holstered their weapons and backed up, grouping together across the street.

Before my eyes, I watched as what had been a terrifying crisis scene condensed into something easier to digest. The tension on the small street plummeted as all the law-enforcement and reporters started relaxing.

The change was tangible. I just hoped Jimmy felt it as well.

We all headed back into the trailer, and Kate instructed me to call again. When Jimmy picked up after only 7 rings, Jenny gave me a smile and a thumbs up, letting me know that it was significant progress.

"Jimmy, it's Stephanie."

------------------------------------------------------

We had been going at it for four hours. Four long, tension-filled hours of back and forth, up and down. Ranger had sat, for all four hours, in front of my chair, holding my hand. Grounding me.

After hour three, Jimmy had started threatening to shoot people inside. The scariest part of his statement wasn't his words, it was his tone. His anger and belligerence had abated as the hours had passed. Now he just sounded resigned. Like it was his only way out.

We had each known the stakes all along, but the first time he said that, I could actually _feel_ the stakes. Every ounce of tension in my body, in that trailer, pooled in my vocal chords. It took me three tries to repeat Kate's frantic whisper.

"Jimmy, you don't want to do anything rash."

"I'm not doing anything rash. I'm being a good soldier. This is what I do. I'm a good soldier. I capture the enemy. I captured you, and now I've captured them."

"You are a good soldier Jimmy, one of the best. Which is why I know you'll make the right decision now. In fact, since I know what a good soldier you are, I'll make you a deal, Jimmy." Over the hours, I had lost all awareness of what frame we were in, or what goal I was supposed to be working toward, other than ending this. Logan was writing in the 'S' column on the board, but I couldn't figure out what that meant. By this time, I was just blindly repeating Kate's whispers.

"A deal?"

"Yeah. I know you're hot and tired in there. You're probably hungry too."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I know you captured everyone in there fair and square. Just like a good soldier. But those kids aren't really the enemy. So, why don't you send the three kids out, and in return, I'll get the power and air conditioning turned back on, and get some food sent in for you."

"I don't know. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, Jimmy, I can. I got the SWAT team pulled back, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did."

Kate nodded encouragingly when he said that. Any agreement was a good sign. "Okay then, Jimmy. I'll trade you all three kids for power, air conditioning, and food."

"I want cigarettes too. And good food. Meatball subs."

"Okay Jimmy, we can do cigarettes and meatball subs."

"How do I know you won't shoot when I open the door?"

"We've been at this a long time. Have I lied to you yet?"

There was a pause. The tension grew as the silence did. Finally, he answered. "Guess not."

"Then they won't shoot Jimmy. Tell you what. We'll turn on the power first. Then, after you know we've done our part, you send the kids out, and then we'll leave the food, okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Okay, Jimmy. Let me talk to one of the kid's moms, please."

"Okay."

I waited for one of the younger women to come on the line. My breath was coming faster and faster as I waited. I tried to pass the phone off to Kate, but she motioned that I should keep talking.

Finally, a shaky, tear-filled voice came over the line.

"Hello?"

I repeated Kate. "Hi, my name is Stephanie, who's this?"

"Sherrie Lynn."

"Okay, Sherrie Lynn, he's agreed to let kids go, so I need to explain to you what to do."

"He is? He's going to let them out?"

The sheer pain in her voice, mixed with just a shard of hope, broke my heart.

"Yeah, Sherrie Lynn, he's going to let them go."

The second I said yes, she burst into tears. The kind of gut-wrenching sobs that only a mother terrified for her child can cry.

"My baby, he's gonna be okay?" She was gasping for air as she asked, desperate for the reassurance that for her child, if not yet for herself, this would all be over.

"Yeah, he's gonna be just fine." By now, my voice was starting to give out due to the tears running down my face. It was just too much emotion to hear and not share.

"So what do I do?" she asked, after composing herself somewhat. Her words stalled over the occasional sob she just couldn't hold in.

"How old is the oldest kid in there?"

"Damien, he's almost seven."

"Okay, I want all three kids to hold hands, and come out at the same time, starting with Damien."

"Okay."

"I need you to tell Damien that all three kids need to run to their left as fast as they can, and stay right up against the building."

"To their left, okay."

"I need you to open the door for them…" my voice just gave out mid-sentence. The relief she was feeling mixed with my continuing panic that this wouldn't go right was simply too tangible. I opened and closed my mouth twice more, trying to get the next words out that Kate had told me.

Ranger, seeing my anguish, stood and scooped me out of the chair, sitting back down in it with me firmly wrapped in his arms. He whispered, trying to sooth my nerves. "Come on, Steph, you can do it. Keep going."

It made the panic recede just enough for my voice to squeeze past it. I clung to Ranger's arms where they were tight around my stomach, and continued repeating Kate into the speaker.

"I need you to open the door, Sherrie Lynn, and make sure they run to the left. The SWAT team knows you'll be one opening the door, so they'll stand down. But you'll need to stay inside the house. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can do that, just make sure my baby stays safe." Her whispered plea made my tears fall harder, my voice thinner.

"I will."

Kate whispered again, and I cleared my throat, trying to gain the ability to repeat her. "Okay Sherrie Lynn, you and kids go line up in front of the door. You look outside, and one of the cops will wave to you when you should open the door, okay? It'll be just after the power in the house comes back on."

"Okay."

"Can you give the phone back to Jimmy?"

Joe, who had the trailer door open far enough to look out, spoke up. "Power's back on, the windows just lit up."

Jimmy came back on the line a split second later.

"Okay, Jimmy, you have power?"

"Yeah it's on, what do you want me to do."

"One of the cops is going to wave to Sherrie Lynn, and she's going to open the door. Just stay back, and everything will be fine. I'm going to hang up, and call back as soon as we have them, and work out the food."

"Yeah, okay."

The second he said okay, Kate nodded at Joe, and flipped off the speaker. Joe bolted from the trailer. The rest of us held our breath. My nails were digging into Ranger's arms where they were still crossed in front of me. There were no windows and the trailer was almost sound-proof. We had no way of knowing what was happening.

I sat perfectly still, every muscle in my body completely rigid, until Joe yanked the door back open. "We have all three kids."

I burst into tears. I turned my head enough to bury it in Ranger's chest and sobbed. The younger agents, who had been through this before, all cheered and gave high-fives. I couldn't even gain enough relief to smile.

Ranger's voice cut through my tears, it was harsh, and in a tone I had never heard him use on me before. "Stop crying, Stephanie, you're not done yet." I sat straight up and stared at him. I was shocked, but his tone had stemmed my tears like nothing else could have.

But when I met his eyes, he continued, his voice infinitely softer. He reached up and framed my face with his hands, pulling me close enough to rest my forehead against his. "You can't give in yet, babe, you have to calm down." He brushed my hair back, out of my eyes, and ran a thumb across my cheek to remove some of tears. There were just too many to get them all. "You need to call Jimmy back, and quickly. We promised to call right back, and he has to keep trusting us or he'll never let the other three women go."

I nodded, trying to stop my tears and calm my racing heart. He was right. I couldn't stop now. We might have gotten the kids out, but I'd never forgive myself if I made them orphans in the process. I climbed off Ranger's lap and shook out my arms and legs, trying to relieve a bit of the tension. I kept one hand over my stomach, trying to keep the nausea at bay.

Joe had a strange look on his face as he was watching us, but didn't say anything about it. He noticed my hands over my stomach. "Hey cupcake, I have some malox in the car if you need it."

I shot him a pissy look, but his words did the trick. I smiled for the first time in hours.

He slapped me on the back. "You're doing great, kid. Keep it up."

I glared at his use of 'kid,' but nodded and looked back at the phone. If I never saw another red phone in my entire life, it would be much too soon. Ranger stood as well, and led me back to the chair. He resumed his place beside me, and grabbed my hand back. He had the patience of a saint, to sit here holding my hand for so many hours. But I would have never made it this far without the gesture of faith and support.

As soon as I was ready, or as ready as I could be, Kate redialed the phone. This time, Jimmy picked up on the first ring.

"We got the kids, Jimmy. Thank you. One of the SWAT guys is putting the food and cigarettes on the front porch now."

"Okay." He sounded more tired now than he had a few minutes ago.

Kate's walkie-talkie crackled, and she fed me my next line. "Jimmy, you can open the door now to grab the food."

"Is anybody going to shoot?"

"No Jimmy. You did good letting the kids go. No one is going to shoot."

"Okay, hang on."

A second later he came back. "Okay, I got it."

"Why don't I give you some time to eat and relax. I'll call back in about half an hour, will that be okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," Jimmy said, his mouth already full. He hung up.

I sat back in my chair, thankful for the break we had just bought ourselves. One of the local cops opened the trailer door and passed in a huge bag of food.

Joe smiled at me, and handed me a foot-long meatball sub.

I took it, and was almost startled to see the familiar Pino's wrappers. Consumed in this crisis for the past hours, my world had shrunk to this cramped, hot trailer, the terror deep in my stomach, and the feel of Ranger's fingers twisted around mine.

I couldn't eat it, though. The second I started to unwrap it, the smell hit me and my stomach rebelled. I quickly pushed it back at Joe.

He took it, and kissed me on the top of my head. "Want me to go find you some crackers. Maybe some Sprite to help your throat?"

I nodded at him, bolstered just by the clear show of support. "Thanks, Joe."

Ranger spoke up as Joe left in search of better food. "Wanna wait outside, get some air?"

I nodded again, and took the offering hand to stand up. I followed him out and we sat, side by side, on the steps of the trailer. It was dark. God, how many hours had we been in there? The guilt and panic I had been feeling all day, mixed with all the adrenaline, had me more tired than I ever remembered being. I couldn't imagine how the women inside felt.

I sat and drank in the cool air. There were even more people around now than when I had entered the trailer six hours before, but the mood was lighter. We had made a huge breakthrough, and everyone could feel the relief. The darkness seemed to muffle the noise some as well. I rested my head on Ranger's shoulder, content to listen to the low hum of voices around me while we waited for Joe.

He re-appeared, handing me a package of saltine crackers, a huge fountain Sprite with lots of ice, and some chewable pepto-bismol tablets. My eyes filled with tears, again, as I realized he had gone down the 7-11 to get it all for me.

"Thanks," I said. Such a gesture deserved significantly more, but I couldn't even think. I'd thank him properly when this whole thing was over.

Joe seemed to sense my mood. "It's fine, Cupcake. Get some air and take a break. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I nodded and started sucking down the drink. The cold liquid and citrus felt like ice against my raw throat and immediately settled my stomach. I sat and there and drank the whole thing without stopping.

Ranger raised an eyebrow when I finally looked up, shaking the ice around. "Want me to send somebody for another one?"

"Yeah, if you can."

The corner of his lips tipped up, and lifted his walkie-talkie to this mouth. I hadn't even noticed he had it.

"Hey Lester, we need more sprite for Steph."

"Sure, boss," it crackled back.

Ranger rubbed my back while I nibbled on a few of the crackers.

"I just turned down a Pino's meatball sub for saltine crackers, didn't I?"

"Yeah, Babe."

We were sitting just close enough that I could feel him chuckle, even if his expression didn't change.

"I'm going to regret that tomorrow."

"I'll buy you a meatball sub when we get out of here."

"Thanks." I leaned my head back on his shoulder.

"I gotta leave tomorrow, government thing," he said, after a beat of silence.

I just sat up and looked at him. At this moment, I couldn't imagine him out of touching distance, let alone just…gone.

"I'll be here till this is done. They wanted me to leave today, but I told them I couldn't till this is over."

My heart melted at his admission. "You won't make me do this alone?" I wanted to be tough, stand strong and, all that. But Ranger leaving now would be a bit like throwing me in the deep end and forgetting the life preserver. I had Joe, but it wasn't the same.

"I would never make you do this alone, Babe. But I'll probably have to go tomorrow, and I didn't want to disappear without letting you know."

"Okay." This probably deserved more of a response as well. He had just told me that he moved a government mission for me. I was pretty sure that wasn't usually allowed. But my thought process was shot, and I was so relieved he wasn't leaving right this second, that I just silently put my head back on his shoulder.

I could hear the crickets chirping, and the air stirred with just the perfect amount of breeze. Ranger's fingers were tracing lazy circles on my back. If I squeezed my eyes tight enough, I could almost pretend we were at a summer barbeque or a party. Forget how many lives were on the line as a result of my choices the night before. Forget the guilt and panic and exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm me at any moment.

"Hey Bombhsell," Lester said, appearing before me with more food. He had one of those little cardboard drink carriers with four huge sprites in it, all the cups dripping with condensation. He also had a bag, and I could see Ben and Jerry's and Doritos in it from where I sat.

He handed the food and drinks to Ranger, and lifted me to my feet, pulling me into a hug. "We saw the kids run out of there. You're doing great, beautiful, really great."

"Thanks, Lester. And thanks for the food and drinks, really."

"No problem. Just let me know if you need anything else."

Lester headed off to wherever he had been, just as Kate and the younger agents reappeared in front of Ranger and me. Joe was a step behind them.

"Ready to get started again?" Kate asked.

"Aren't you tired?" I said, shocked at her willingness to go back in there.

She smiled. "It gets easier. Next time you won't feel it as much."

"There will be no next time." I shook my head for emphasis, hoping my words were true. I never wanted to go through this again. But right now I had no other options. There were still three women in there. And if I gave up now, we'd lose all the progress I'd made with Jimmy.

So I straightened my back, grabbed Ranger's hand, and led the way back into the florescent lights of the command trailer.


	21. Chapter 21

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far. I really appreciate the time it takes to leave them. I've turned into an absolute slut for reviews, so if you enjoy it, please leave one! (Or even if you don't, or have any ideas for me…) This is still my first fanfic, so go easy on me._

_The characters aren't mine – all belong to JE and will be returned, I make no profit.. Rating for language._

-----------------------------------------------------

As soon as everyone was settled, Kate redialed the phone.

I quickly started to suck some more sprite as we listened to it ring. My throat was almost as raw as my emotions were. I wondered how long I could keep talking before my voice just gave out. Or before my entire body gave out from sheer exhaustion. But the deep emotion was warring with the exhaustion, and I knew I could keep going no matter how long it took.

Jimmy picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hey."

"Hey, Jimmy. Did you get a chance to eat and cool off a bit?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"You sound tired Jimmy, are you okay?"

"I'm fucking exhausted. I just want this finished."

"Why don't you just come out Jimmy? Then this whole thing will be over and you can get some rest."

"I'm not coming out. I'm a good soldier. I'm going to finish this the right way."

Jenny and Logan, the younger agents, started motioning. Logan was writing under the 'E' on the board. That was odd – last time Jimmy talked about being a good soldier, we were in the Face frame. I didn't get what put us in the E frame (nor did I remember what the E stood for), but I didn't particularly care. I was just the mouthpiece here, repeating Kate.

"That's good Jimmy. It's good you want to do things the right way. You have a good sense of honor."

"Duty, honor, country. I was a good soldier."

"Do you think you're doing the honorable thing now, Jimmy?"

"I let the kids go, didn't I?"

"Yeah you did, and that was great. But there are still three people in there. And you're still in there, Jimmy."

"I know. I always try to be honorable. But I'm not just coming out. I'm not surrendering. No way."

"Maybe in this case surrendering is the right thing to do."

"I'm not some pussy. I'm a good soldier. I'm not going to just give up and come out."

"So instead you're going to hold your own mother hostage?"

I stared at Kate, my mouth agape. I couldn't believe she just told me to say that. Didn't she explain that we couldn't bait Jimmy, couldn't piss him off due to his explosive temper?

But everyone in the trailer looked calm. Logan was still writing under the 'E' column. So I turned my attention back to the phone and kept repeating Kate.

It took a moment for Jimmy to respond. When he did, his voice was quiet, filled with pain. "I just wanted to prove that I was a better soldier than you. That I was stronger, tougher. It was a terrible thing to do, wasn't it?"

"No Jimmy, it was just a mistake. We all make mistakes. And you are a better soldier. And now you have the chance to come out of there. To make up for your mistake and get a fresh start."

Now I vaguely remembered where Kate was going with this. Emotional distress – if Jimmy was feeling shame, than we had to emphasize his ability to start over and have a fresh slate. Lessen the emotion he was feeling. I was impressed. This was the first time he had shown real emotion. The pain in his voice was starting to get to me, make me realize that he was less of a monster than I had been thinking for the past few weeks.

"That'd be nice, to start over. I could be a better son."

"Yeah, Jimmy, you could."

"I've just been so fucked-up since I got back from Iraq, you know?"

"Yeah. It happens to a lot of soldiers, Jimmy. It doesn't mean you weren't a good one. It just means you have to be more careful now to do the right thing."

"Yeah."

I thought I had him. I really thought that he was about to agree with me, and surrender himself and let the hostages go. But he didn't. I heard yelling in the background, and then Jimmy started yelling. I couldn't make out the words, but all of a sudden, he slammed down the phone.

I looked up at Kate in shock. "What just happened?"

She had the same look on her face. The younger agents did too. "I don't know," she said. "I thought we were getting somewhere."

I looked at Ranger beside me, and then over at Joe, both of them just shrugged.

"So…what do we do now?" I asked the room at large, since no one seemed to get what had just happened.

"We'll give it a few minutes, and then call back, and try to get him talking again," Kate said.

She picked up her walkie-talkie and started speaking into it, probably to one of the in-charge looking older men she had been talking to earlier.

"The negotiations stalled, sir."

"What happened?" the voice asked back.

"Well, we thought we were making progress, but there was some commotion inside and he hung up."

"The kids are gone, and it's been almost seven hours. We should think about going in."

My head snapped up at that.

"Yeah, I'm starting to agree. I'll have Steph call back. If we can't get it to de-escalate soon, we'll start putting together an extraction plan," Kate answered.

"Sounds good."

She set the walkie-talkie back on the table and turned to me.

"Okay. Why don't we call back and see what happens. We don't want to go in, but this has been going on for a while. He has to be exhausted, and we want to end it before he starts making stupid mistakes."

I nodded. It was extra pressure put on me that I didn't want, but I understood. Ranger squeezed my hand as Kate dialed the number again.

After twenty rings, she gave up. "We'll try again in five minutes or so."

I used the tiny bathroom in the trailer, and grabbed another sprite and more crackers. As thankful as I was for the food Lester had brought me, I didn't think I could keep it down.

As soon as I got re-settled, Kate dialed again. It took almost fifty rings, but Jimmy finally picked up. His voice was angry, on edge.

"What?"

"Jimmy, what's going on? What happened?"

"What happened? What happened is that you now have a body."

My blood ran cold as he said it. "Jimmy, what did you do?"

He gave a bitter laugh. "That's the irony, Stephanie. I didn't do anything. My mother apparently had a stroke. She's dead."

I closed my eyes, willing myself to maintain enough control to keep talking, keep repeating Kate.

"I'm sorry Jimmy."

"Yeah, well, so much for being a better son, a fresh start." He all but spat the words, his anger tangible even through the phone line.

"Jimmy, I know this is hard for you, but it's no reason to do anything rash now."

"No reason? I just killed my mother! If I come out I'm going to spend the rest of my life in jail. I can't let that happen Stephanie."

"Jimmy, maybe we can work something out…"

"There's nothing to work out! I'm not going to jail. I'm going to end this, here and now, like a good soldier."

His angry, strident voice was a stark contrast to my pleading one.

"Jimmy, please don't…"

But he hung up before I could say anything else.

I swung my gaze to Kate, my eyes wide and my breathing shallow. "Are you going to…"

I let it trail off. She just nodded and picked up her walkie-talkie, barking orders into it.

"He hung up on Steph again. He's getting out of control. Apparently his mother had a stroke. Start preparing an extraction team and have snipers resume their first position."

A minute later, Ranger's walkie-talkie crackled to life. I didn't understand what the person on the other end was saying, but he stood up and left the trailer.

I felt his absence almost physically the moment he left. He had been by my side, literally holding my hand, for over seven hours. And I still needed him. Every part of my body was screaming for emotional and physical relief. For this to all be over. I was trying my best, but as the situation escalated, I was terrified that it wouldn't be enough. One person was already dead. I couldn't help but wonder how many more would be when morning came.

A minute later, Ranger re-entered the trailer, dressed in full body amour. My eyes widened and my breath hitched as I realized the implication. He noticed my reaction and knelt down in front of me.

"Babe. The extraction team is going to be split between ATF and Rangeman crews. If it comes to it, I'm going in. I'll stay for a while, and only leave if I have to. No matter what, Morelli's going to stay in here with you."

He glanced over my shoulder for confirmation from Joe as he said it. Joe must have answered in the affirmative, because Ranger looked back at me.

"Okay?"

I nodded. I didn't like it, but I understood. Those would be Ranger's men going in, and he'd never let them go in without leading the way. That's just who he was.

Kate started dialing again, as Ranger sat back down with me. I had one more shot. If I could get Jimmy calmed back down, then Ranger leaving wouldn't be an issue.

But I couldn't. We had only spoken for another minute or two before he hung up again. The sound of him slamming down the receiver echoed in my mind, because I knew what the sound would be followed by.

"Jimmy," I had said after forty-some-odd rings, "I know you're trying to do the honorable thing in there. You're a good soldier, Jimmy. A good man. And you know that coming out is the right thing to do."

The last time he hung up on me, he had been spitting mad. Screaming curses and invective. This time, he simply sounded sure. It was a terrible thing to hear.

"I'm not coming out Stephanie. I'm not letting these women out. I'm not going to jail. It's as simple as that."

"Jimmy, you don't want to hurt Sherrie Lynn and Jesse. I know you don't."

"They're the enemy. I captured them. It's up to me to be a good soldier."

"Jimmy, don't…"

"I'm finishing this like any good soldier would. Good-bye Stephanie."

The dial tone pierced through the sudden silence.

Ranger squeezed my hand once, and left the trailer. I sat stunned, the knowledge that I had failed was seeping into my soul. Kate was talking into her walkie-talkie, and each of the younger agents left the trailer to watch the action. I couldn't move.

Joe came up behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders.

"If you need to go to, you can."

"No, cupcake. I promised I'd stay and I will. They're all going to be fine."

We both knew it was an empty promise, but it was nice to hear nonetheless. It was disconcerting, though, to have Joe take Ranger's place to comfort me. How many years had it been the other way around? But I just touched my hand to his where it sat on my shoulder, grateful for the comfort, no matter who it came from.

"Do you want to go outside and watch?"

"No." I really didn't. I didn't think I could. But a second later we heard shouting, and a second after that, shots.

I jumped up and bolted from the sticky trailer, desperate to see what had happened and who was hurt. At the beginning of all this, I hadn't cared in the least what happened to Jimmy. He had kidnapped me, threatened me, planned to chop me up, and then taken innocent children hostage. He could rot in jail or hell, I wasn't picky which. But we had talked for seven hours. I had tried to persuade him, rescue him from himself, for seven long hours. And for some odd reason I would never be able to comprehend, I desperately wanted him to survive.

More than that, I needed Ranger to survive. To walk back up to me perfectly okay. I held my breath as I tripped down the trailer steps, scanning the area in front of me as fast as I could. Desperate to catch a glimpse of him.

For what felt like hours, though it couldn't have been longer than two or three minutes, all we heard was shouting. I could see dark figures running through the house, but couldn't decipher one from another. The tension that had been so low after the children had come out was now buzzing again, everyone hanging on the outcome. Reporters were giving live broadcasts, hoping for that prize-winning shot to appear behind them.

Suddenly, two SWAT guys burst out the front door, a small woman smashed between them. A second later, two more appeared, rushing another woman away from the house. My breath came out in a whoosh as I realized the implication.

Joe, still standing behind me, wrapped one arm around my waist. I sagged into him in relief. Regardless of the outcome with Jimmy, five of the six hostages had made it out unharmed.

I could hear more shouting inside, but no further shots were fired. Another terse minute passed before Ranger and Tank appeared in the doorway, Jimmy between them, cuffed at the wrist and ankles.

I scanned up and down Ranger's body, assuring myself that there were no bullet holes pumping blood, before my legs went out from under me. Joe set me down on the steps of the trailer, leaving just enough room for Kate to squeeze past as she exited.

We all watched as the two women were reunited with their children. My eyes filled with tears, and the panic and guilt that had been crushing me since Jimmy first called me finally cracked.

"You did good, Steph. Really great," Kate said.

I stared at her, unsure how to respond. 'Great' wasn't how I would describe the day. "He didn't surrender."

"No. But he didn't shoot anyone. In my book, that makes for a good day." She reached out her hand to me. "It was nice working with you. Next time you're in Philly we'll have to grab drinks or something."

I smiled and shook her hand. "Just as long as I don't have to repeat everything you say."

She grinned. "So, Detective Morelli," she said, turning to him, "want to join me for some late dinner?"

My mouth fell open in shock. Did she just ask him out? I didn't see that coming. But they seemed to already know each other, and get along well. Joe just winked at me, grabbed her hand, and walked off. I shook my head looking after them. When I looked forward again, Ranger was standing on the sidewalk, still holding a cuffed Jimmy.

Jimmy was staring at me, through me almost. I held his eyes, unable to look away. He was no longer the frightening man who had knocked me unconscious behind the club – now he just looked hollow, like the past hours had cost him even more of his already fragile mind.

I'm not sure what he saw in me as he searched my eyes, but he finally turned away. Ranger put in the back of a police cruiser, and it pulled down the street.

Ranger headed in my direction. I smiled at him, but over his shoulder, I could see the paramedics roll a covered gurney down the sidewalk towards the waiting ambulance. I swallowed hard. Though Mrs. Clark's death couldn't be legally blamed on me, I felt the weight of the moral accusation.

Ranger startled me by taking my face in both his hands, forcing me to look away from the body. I hadn't even seen him approach. But I did see the concern in his eyes as his met my tear-filled ones.

"Come on, babe. You need sleep."

"Yeah." I stood and followed him, too tired to even consider where we were going. Before I knew it, we had made the drive to Haywood, and were pulling into Ranger's spot in the garage.

I was in an odd mood as we entered the elevator and rode in silence. I had passed exhaustion hours ago, but I wasn't sleepy. I knew I couldn't close my eyes, let alone relax enough to go to sleep. Adrenaline was still pumping through me, making my body crave movement.

I followed Ranger into his apartment, but stopped just inside the door. He turned and raised an eyebrow at me.

"You're not going to be able to sleep are you?" 

"I feel weird." I had no idea how to explain it, other than that.

"It's the adrenaline. You need to get it out of your system."

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him. Or at least make a pitiful attempt to do so. "What do you do to get it out of your system?"

Ranger walked back to where I was standing in front of the closed apartment door. He rested his hands on the door, on either side of my head, and leaned close. "Recently, I've been going to the gym and beating the shit out of one of the guys." He shrugged. "Before you came around, I'd just go find a woman. Tonight…"

He left it hanging as his meaning broke through the fog in my mind. Suddenly, everything was crystal clear. The feel of the wooden door against my back. The smell of his warm skin, sweat mixed with Bulgari. The cool, still silence of the apartment. The hunger in his eyes that I instinctively knew was matched in mine.

He leaned closer, until his lips were almost brushing mine. "I'm going down to the gym in ten seconds. You have until then to decide if you want me to stay."

I didn't need ten seconds. I would probably regret it later. But the events of the day were too raw, the emotions too deep. I needed him – I needed to reassure myself that we were both alive and whole after two days of fear.

There was so little space between us, that I barely had to move before my lips were pressed against his. He grabbed me around the waist, pulled me into his body. I threaded my fingers through his hair, hanging on. He pushed me against the door, my feet just far enough off the floor that I hung suspended between it and him. His kiss was rough and demanding. There was nothing gentle about it. I responded with a level of passion and hunger that shocked us both. He never broke the kiss as he reached between us to unhook my cargos and jerk them down to the floor. My panties he just ripped. As I continued to kiss him, digging my fingers into the thick muscle of his back, I could hear the metal clinking of his belt buckle, the rasp of his zipper, the sound of denim sliding downward.

-------------------------------------------------

I opened my eyes, squinting against the early morning sunlight, and found myself firmly wrapped up in Ranger's arms. I wiggled against him, trying to get closer. He had been right. Once we had 'worked' the adrenaline out my system, I had immediately fallen into a deep sleep. I still didn't feel rested – that would probably take a while – but I felt significantly better than I would have had I gone home alone. Alone I would have replayed the day's events over and over in my head until I drove myself crazy.

Yes, I decided as I stretched my sore muscles, this way had been much better. I looked up to see Ranger staring at me, his eyes dark as he watched me stretch.

"Morning, babe," he said, leaning down to kiss me.

I smiled at him and retuned the kiss, but my heart wasn't in it. The enormity of the situation was seeping into my consciousness. I knew the night before hadn't changed anything between us – I had known it wouldn't from the beginning. The words that he had started to speak the morning before still had to be spoken. He still had to leave today on whatever secret mission he was headed for. And I still had to go on with my life. Alone.

He noticed the tension in my body and let me sit up. I pulled the sheet up with me. It was a poor defense, but it was all I had at the moment.

"When do you need to leave?"

"Couple hours. It's still early."

I nodded, not even bothering to look at the clock. I looked around the room, and relief swept through me as my eyes rested on my laundry basket. Ella or someone must have brought my stuff up from the 4th floor apartment yesterday.

I gave Ranger a small smile, and got up to head for the bathroom. I grabbed a handful of clothes from the basket on the way, not caring what I put on. While in there, I brushed my teeth and tried to tame my hair to some extent. I skipped the shower, knowing I was just going straight home. Though the knowledge that it would be the last time I had a plausible excuse to use his amazing shower tempted me more than it should have.

I emerged to find Ranger in almost the same spot on the bed, though he had grabbed a pair of boxers. That was good – there was no way I'd be able to handle him rejecting me if he was naked while he did it.

On my way out of the bedroom, I grabbed the laundry basket, and set it back down on the living room floor. I headed into the kitchen to see if Rex had been brought up as well. He had, and I grabbed his cage and turned around, only to run smack into Ranger.

I put a hand over my pounding chest and set Rex's cage back on the counter. "You could make some noise you know."

He didn't smile. "What are you doing?"

"Getting my stuff together. You said yesterday that my apartment was clean and that I could go home, remember?" 

"Yes. And I distinctly remember that we didn't finish that conversation."

I had really been hoping that he had forgotten that part. I leaned back against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to steel up my nerve. It was an empty gesture.

"Well, finish it then," I said, when he just continued staring at me. "This is the part where you tell me you don't do relationships, and you're leaving, and I would be better off…"

I stopped there. I was a bit curious how he would finish that sentence, since Morelli and I were history. Not curious enough to stick around for the conversation if I could get out of it. But if I had to be here, it was as good a thing as any to focus on.

He blew out a breath and ran his hands through his hair. He opened his mouth like he was going to speak, but then closed it, staring off at some spot over my shoulder.

It was so reminiscent of the morning before and our attempt at this same conversation, that I felt a need to put an end to it. I knew what he was going to say. For some reason, I had been holding out hope that Batman would swoop in at the last second and say he couldn't live without me. But that wasn't going to happen.

"It's okay, Ranger. I get it, I really do. We don't have to actually discuss this. As long as we can stay friends, I'm fine with us both just going on with our lives."

He looked at me for a long moment, and then just shook his head. He grabbed my waist with both hands and pulled me to him.

"I told you before you broke up with Joe, that I'd never give you a reason to walk out of my life. I won't now, Babe,. And I won't settle for just being friends. I may prefer fewer complications than you bring, and I can't promise you'll never get hurt, but I'll do anything in my power to keep you with me."

My heart was just about to jump out of my chest at those words. Maybe I was getting my last minute rescue after all. My light, teasing tone belied the tears that were pooling in my eyes. "Oh, big bad Manoso is giving up some control, huh?"

"Yeah, Babe. I'm giving up some control. Taking a risk. Are you sure this is what you want? It won't be easy."

"Definitely. And I know it won't be easy. Are you sure it's what you want?"

"Yeah, Babe." He tightened his arms around me and buried his head in my curls. I clung to him like he was vital to my very existence. Maybe he was. "I'm sure."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapters 19-22 were all uploaded on 4/7. Please make sure you back up to chapter 19 if you haven't already (or else you'll just spoil it ;)**

_Nothing here is mine except part of the plot, Jimmy, and Kate. All belongs to J.E. and I make no profit. Rating for language_

---------------------------------------------------------

It had been two months since I got those families away from Jimmy. Ranger had left within a couple hours of our talk and I had packed up my stuff and gone home. But I had left his apartment with a light heart. I knew that when he got back, we would give us a shot, try to make it work. And maybe it would and maybe it wouldn't, but we had the opportunity for something great.

For two months I had trained, ran, exercised, gone to work, caught skips, and laughed with the guys. I missed Ranger, but I even surprised myself with how well I was doing. I trusted Ranger implicitly; I always had. And now I trusted him to be careful and do his best to come back in one piece. That was all I could do, and I refused to wallow in pity or worry or anything else.

There was a part of me that wondered if this were a test. If he left to see if I could really handle being in a relationship with him. To see if I'd still be waiting when he got back, or if I'd give up and go back to Joe. I didn't really think he'd do that to me, but it had crossed my mind. In reality, though, maybe we both needed a test. I had learned that I could deal with his absences, that I could go on with my life when he had to go on with his in some third-world jungle. And when he got back, he'd learn that too.

Tank, who had been running Rangeman in Ranger's absence, had asked me to come back to do research half time. It worked perfectly, really. I got a steady paycheck and benefits, use of the gym and the computer programs, and most of all, I got Tank and Lester and Bobby. They had become good friends over the past few months, and I was so happy that they accepted me, even wanted me, as part of the team.

The other half of my time I still got to chase skips, which was way more fun now that I was trained. I could actually catch people that I was chasing, and I hadn't rolled in garbage in weeks. Of course I still lost my most recent car last month, but hey, some things have got to stay the same around here, right?

One afternoon I was sitting in the break room, being teased mercilessly by the guys, when I heard the door open behind me and the back of my neck prickled.

I turned around, and he was standing there, looking thrilled but a little flabbergasted to see me. I couldn't help it. I squealed like a little girl, ran towards him, and jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. He wrapped his arms around me so tight it was cutting off my air supply and buried his head in my riotous curls, whispering softly. 

"Hi, Babe."

"Hi, Ranger."

"God, I missed you." 

"I missed you too," I whispered back. I was trying so hard not to cry, to prove that I could be strong, but the tighter he held me, the harder it got. Just as I was about to break, he loosened his hold just a bit and set me down on my feet.

Smiling all 200 watts at me, he gently brushed away the few tears that apparently been squeezed out and rested his forehead against mine.

"Uh, not to interrupt or anything, but do we get to say hi, or is this a one-woman show?"

Lester. Laughing, we finally pulled apart, and Ranger went to shake hands with the guys.

"Good to have you back, man." Tank slapped him on the back. "We made some changes around here while you were gone. Numero uno was getting Bombshell here to take pity on us and come back to work. She was a real trooper too. She didn't cry once the whole time you were gone."

Ranger looked at me appraisingly as I blushed.

"Yeah, she's gotten tougher too. She even managed to kick my ass last week!" Lester said.

I swatted him upside the head. "Yeah, well you deserved it, Santos. Teach you to keep your hands to yourself."

"You still training, Babe?" Ranger asked softly.

"Um, yeah, some, a little." I think he was a little surprised that I kept going with it after the mess with Jimmy was solved.

"A little. Listen to her. Man, she can pick a lock, shoot straight, spot a tail, assess a room – man we put her through it all, and she's done great!" Tank said, clearly proud of how much I had learned in three months time.

Bobby jumped in at this point. "Yeah, I taught her how to drive. She can get away from anybody now, it's a blast to ride with her. Course she still managed to blow up three cars while you were gone …"

"Okay, Okay!" I said, holding up my hand to stop them. "Yeesh. I think he gets it. I've gotten better. Not that I could have gotten any worse. I don't think that my new skills are the first thing the man wants to hear about when he gets back."

"I don't know about that," Ranger answered, walking back towards me and looping his arms around my waist. "Proud of you, Babe."

I grinned up at him. The clear approval I could see in his eyes was well worth all the early morning runs. He gave me a squeeze and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead.

"Okay," he said releasing me. "Tank, why don't we go over everything that's been going on, and Steph, maybe tonight you can show me all the new tricks you learned."

I turned red all the way to the roots of my hair as the guys all cracked up laughing. I just stood there, grinning like an idiot, while Ranger and Tank headed to his office.

Tonight. That sounded promising. I had grown up a lot in the past few months, and made a lot of decisions while he was away. I now knew exactly what I wanted from this man. And more than that, I knew I could get it. I wanted it all, and I wasn't going to stop until I got it. He'd never know what hit him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

_The SAFE model of hostage negotiation is created and copyrighted by Dr. Mitch Hammer. It is currently used to train all ATF hostage negotiators, and is based on a mix of theories from the fields of communications, crisis counseling/psychology, and conflict resolution. I tried to keep everything as close to accurate as possible. Much of the dialogue during the negotiation is based loosely on transcripts from actual negotiations. Please, obviously, don't use this to conduct any actual negotiations  _

_Thanks for reading all the way through this! _


End file.
